True Jinchuriki
by Zarunak
Summary: After a painful encounter with a fruit cart at the age of 6. Naruto descovers the Kyuubi and he decides that he has had enough. He swears an oath to make sure that no one ever suffers like he did. editing some of the earlier chapters, deviation aproaches.
1. Deal with a Demon

**True Jinchuriki**

**Chapter 1: Deal with the Demon (rewritten)**

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over Naruto or any other officially published works.**

**Well this is my first Fanfic which I started two years ago, and now I am fixing it.**

-

"Please, I come to you on bent knees to beg for your aid." The six-year-old, blond-hair boy said as he knelt on the hard, stone floor of the chamber. "I humbly beg you teach me and help me stronger, so I can make my dream come true." He paused, "I know that you don't like me, nobody does, but please consider my request."

Seeing that he would receive no answer the little boy stood and turned away. "I guess I shouldn't have expected anything from you, it's not like you care."

"**You're right about that, I don't. But I am curious, what's your dream, and don't tell me it's to be Hokage."** came a voice from the darkness.

The blond turned around and looked straight into the terrifying red eyes of his potential teacher. "I will find others like me and bring them together away from the hatred and prejudice of those fools who fear us!" he said with an almost maniacal grin on his face.

"**Is that so gaki, and how are you going to find every one like yourself and get them away from those who control them. They aren't likely to let their strongest weapons be stolen just like that."**

"That's why I will get strong and beet up anyone who tries to stop me." He answered with a shrug.

The great beast laughed uproariously at the simple answer.

"What are you laughing at?" asked the blond in an offended voice.

"**You have spunk Kit, I like that."** The massive demon looked down at the small child on the other side of the giant cage door. **"I will train you and help you get power if you can pass my test."**

"What you want me to do" was the exited response

"**Take this scroll and study it, if you can master the technique in one month's time I will accept you as my student and partner."** As he spoke a menacing red fog flowed out of the cage and formed a scroll in the boy's hands.

"Thank you sensei," The boy smiled brightly and faded away.

"**I wonder if he can actually do it,"** Said the Kyuubi with a quiet chuckle.

-

After leaving his mindscape Naruto looked around, he was in his dingy apartment, with its peeling wallpaper and worn furniture, provided by the Hokage. The Hokage, as Naruto thought about it he realized that the Hokage was the only reason he was still in this town, he was the only one who had been kind to Naruto in the past.

Looking down at the scroll in his hands Naruto nearly fainted. "He expects me to master this in one month?" he nearly yelled.

In his hands was one of the most advanced techniques he had ever read, which wasn't saying much. "_Onitsume_" (Oni: Ogre/demon Tsume: claw/ talon) he read.

"This might be harder than I thought."

And so Naruto trained in secret in the deepest parts of the forest, at empty training grounds, and at school under his desk.

Soon a month had passed and the young ninja-wannabe was ready, or as ready as anyone can be to stare into the face of a giant fox demon that can decimate a small town with an effort of will.

-

The Meeting went well, he proved that he could use basic charka attacks even with just his own charka and now it was time to learn how to harness the power of the demon.

-

**AN: in case people have noticed, I fixed some things in this chapter and changed the format slightly to match my latest story, Jack of Spades. To be honest I find this format to be easier and more visually appealing so I will probably be using it in all my stories from now on.**


	2. Growing up

**True Jinchuriki**

**Growing Up**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and if I did then he wouldn't be such an idiot, and Sasuke would be repeatedly slapped.**

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"There he goes, that little monster."

"Stupid demon."

"I am so glad my children know not to go near that trash."

"I hope he gets what's coming to him."

"He should just die."

These whispers followed Naruto as he walked towards the academy. The villagers had always hated him and for a long time they had often attacked him in angry mobs, until that is on his tenth birthday he executed a perfect Kawarimi (body replacement) to switch with a log covered with explosive notes. Neadless to say the citizens stopped trying to attack him.

Most of what was said behind his back was in a quiet wisper and not meant to be heard by him, but he could easily hear what was said thanks to his greatly improved senses, a gift from Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Naruto guessed that they thought that such things would anger him, but he found that he realy didn't care. These people were simply fools who couldn't let sleeping demons lie –pardon the pun- and were of no interest to the young jinchuriki.

Soon he found his way to the ninja academy. Around the entrance he could see a number of children awaiting the start of classes, and a short distance away he could see Uchiha Sasuke (or as naruto liked to call him Assgay) and his customary swarm of crazed fangirls.

This is how it had been for years. Naruto spent most of his time ignoring the teachers, and training in secret while eveyone was asleep. He had started pranking when he was little to get attention now he did it to practice tactical thinking, he never showed his actual abilities to the teachers or students and did his best to look like a harmless and ineffective ninja.

He still wore the old orange jumpsute even though he had already taken the liberty of buying some other clothing while under a 'henge', so the shopkeeper wouldn't recognize him.

Finaly class started and naruto took his seat near the back of the room in the corner and out of the way, he wasn't sure why he bothered when everyone who wanted to notice him still did.

As Iruka-sensei came in and started today's lecture about keeping your kunai sharp or something to that effect, Naruto drifted off and started looking around the room, there was Akimichi Choji eating his snacks beside his best friend Shakamaru Nara the lazy genius. There not far from them sat Aburame Shino who apeared to be staring at a small beatle and Inuzuka Kiba who was asleep next to him sat Hyuga Hinata the surprisingly shy heiress of the most prestigeos clan in konoha. And finaly in the far end of the room sat Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura who were fighting over Sasuke, no surprise there.

"now class as you know your final genin exam is coming up, so to prepare you for the test I have taken the liberty of preparing a pop quiz." Iruka-sensei's anouncement was met with a large amount of moaning.

The test was easy but naruto wrote down the wrong answer for 49 of the questions. He wouldn't want the teachers to realize that his stuppidity was just a hoax. In fact knowing that the teachers (exept iruka) were mostly trying to make him fail by rudiculing his questions and refusing to help him actualy learn anything, naruto had long ago gotten into the habit of downplaying his acomplishments so that he just barely passed anything.

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Then came the final exam. Naruto exepted his writen exam and answered the questions, then suddenly he stopped.

It was too easy, a five-year-old could answer it right. Looking around naruto noticed a slight discolouration on the wall, a hidden watcher. Making certain to keep his motion subtle naruto made a handsign and released the genjutsu. This is more like it he thought, just for that I'll answer it all right.

After the written exam was over he discreetly watched Mizuki-sensei stare in shock at his test.

The next tests consisted of Taijutsu where he fought against Sakura and punched her in the gut once causing the physically weak kunoichi to collapse.

He then had to move onto ninjutsu and genjutsu.

When finally asked to create a bushin, Naruto mentally kicked himself.

'_Damn it, fox. I stink at this jutsu!' he mentally screamed_

'_**It's your own fault kit; you should have worked harder on your charka control.'**_

Naruto sighed and hopped for the best. Concentrating on the technique, he pushed a miniscule amount of his massive charka into the clone.

Just as he did the jutsu he could already feel the overload the clone would have, thinking fast he shifted the technique.

There was a puff of smoke, a loud bang, and suddenly there were six Narutos! All of them looking quite shaken.

"Naruto, the assignment was one clone not five." Stated Iruka dryly, "though I am impressed that you take this so seriously, there is no need to over work yourself."

"Sorry sensei, I guess I need to work on limiting my charka better."

"Wait, are you saying this happened because you accidentally put to much charka into the technique!" Mizuki practically shouted.

"I tried to limit it. It's pretty hard though." Mizuki looked like he would faint. Iruka stared at Naruto with eyes the size of dinner plates and everyone else just sweat dropped.

There was one thought on everyone's mind, "just how much charka does he have?"

Needless to say, Naruto passed on the condition he work on his charka control.

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So what do you all think, please review and tell me to continue or scram.

Please vote for parings. Some potential pairings.

Naruto/Piñata; Naruto/harem; Naruto/Sakura; Naruto/Ino

Sasuke/Sakura; Sasuke/Ino; Sasuke dies alone

Lee/Sakura

And many others.


	3. Genin at Last

**True Jinchuriki**

**Genin at last**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, never did and probably never will. But it's fun to mess around with the plot.**

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Naruto knew something was wrong, Mizuki was acting strange. There was a nervous quality about him that marked him as being on edge. Naruto could literally smell his fear.

As he walked out of the building after the exam, Naruto could tell he was being watched, more so than usual.

He silently debated with himself whether or not to acknowledge that he was aware of the spy. Finally he decided.

"What do you want Mizuki sensei?" he asked.

Mizuki tripped and fell out of the tree he was hiding in. "well, you really are full of surprises today Naruto-kun"

"A master of stealth, you are not"

"Um… ah… well yes, you see this was just another test, to see how good your detection skills were." Naruto sweat dropped; did this clown really think that he was going to convince him with such a lame story? Well, two can play at that game.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense, so is that it or are there any more tests?" Naruto said adopting his most ignorant persona, the one he'd been using in class for years.

"There is one more left Naruto; this one isn't available to all students. It's a secret test to see if you are good enough to be an elite." Mizuki said, clearly trying to trick Naruto into doing something that he wasn't supposed to do.

Deciding to play along, Naruto asked, "So what do I have to do?"

Mizuki could hardly believe his luck, not only was the kid falling for it, but he was actually good enough that he might even succeed in getting the scroll!

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Naruto arrived at the meeting place before the alarm was even sounded. He sat down and looked speculatively over at the scroll.

"I wonder what the big deal is. Well, I have time might as well check and see why Mizuki wanted this thing so bad."

He opened the scroll carefully to not set of any traps. Naruto nearly whooped with joy.

"_Hey fox this may be the solution to my Bushin problem!"_

"_**Good work kit, but if we've already gotten this far, lets just memorize a couple of techniques before anyone shows up. You can work on mastering them when we have more time."**_ Was the exited answer.

Naruto quickly read several other techniques and he knew that the fox was recording them for later training. After getting through the first few techniques, Naruto stopped and rolled the scroll back up.

He then started practicing some techniques until Mizuki arrived.

Surprisingly, the first person to arrive was not Mizuki, but Iruka sensei. And Mizuki soon followed.

"Hey there Naruto, so good of you too get my scroll for me." Mizuki laughed

"What? So you're responsible for this! Naruto don't let him get the scroll!" Yelled Iruka

"Don't listen to him Naruto, he can't be trusted he's been keeping secrets from you. He hates you." Mizuki called.

"No Mizuki don't!" screamed Iruka

"There was a law passed twelve years ago. A law about you, no one is supposed to tell you."

"Don't Mizuki, its forbidden!"

"YOU ARE THE DEMON FOX" Mizuki yelled, "You are a loathsome monster who everyone hates!"

"I know." Said Naruto calmly. The two ninja just looked at him shocked. Suddenly he was behind Mizuki, "however I feel it is my duty to correct you this once, I am not Kyuubi no Kitsune, I am his Jailor." He said without the slightest bit of emotion. Then he spun around, charka forming claws around his hands, and sliced of Mizuki's head.

Then he lifted the scroll off his back and handed it to Iruka.

"We should return to the Hokage's tower, the old man is waiting for us." He said calmly as though nothing had happened and his left hand wasn't splashed in blood.

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The Hokage sat in his office with Naruto and Iruka, looking at the note he had found in his hat after the robbery.

_Dear, Oyaji_

_I have taken the forbidden scroll in order to reveal a traitor in our midst. I know that the council won't listen to me unless I have undeniable proof so that's what I'll get._

"Naruto, it has come to my attention that you have been keeping some major secrets, regarding your actual abilities." The aging Hokage stated between puffs of his pipe.

"When everyone around you has your worst interests at heart, it is unwise to draw attention to yourself." Answered the blond Genin.

"From what I understand it, you are aware of the demon's presence and are not concerned about it." Sarutobi Puffed

"That's right."

"May I ask about what happened?"

"I won't stop you"

"Will you answer?"

The boy nodded.

"Then please tell me."

And so Naruto wove his ale of sadness, abuse, fear and his discovery of the fox, one day after being run over 'accidentally' by a fruit cart. He proceeded to tell about his training and school years and up to events of tonight. He specifically spoke in a way so as to avoid revealing the full extent of his skill and power, but both the Hokage and the academy teacher classified him as easily a Chunin.

Finally the story was finished and all three sat back to think over the facts.

"May I make a Request Hokage-sama?" asked Naruto. "I feel it is my right to know about my origins."

The third smiled slightly, he had anticipated this. "As I suspect you have realized your father was Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage." the boy nodded. "Your father asked that you not take his name and conceal this information to protect you from his many foes. Your mother was from the land of whirlpools her name was Uzumaki Kushina, you were given her name, I'm sorry but there is nit much more I can tell you about her, she was a tomboy and had red hair, she was quite beautiful, you remind me quite a bit of her."

"Your father left you some scrolls with some of his signature techniques but you are not yet ready to learn them. They require perfect charka control and lots of experience to use." Said the elderly village leader, "they shall be given to you when you are deemed ready."

"I thought as much," admitted Naruto. "Now that I'm out of the academy, I have no reason to hold back my power, or for that matter wear this ridiculous Jumpsuit." He added looking with distaste at the eyesore.

Naruto stood up. "I also don't really care how many people know of my condition as a demon container. I must go and rest for tomorrow when I meet my jounin instructor."

As Naruto started towards the door, he was stopped by a question from The Hokage. "Tell me now, Naruto are you still that little boy who dreams of being Hokage?"

"That little boy grew up," The young Jinchuriki answered as he kept going. Then just before leaving the room he tuned back and said, "But that's the thing about dreams they don't die that easily." Having said that the demon container left behind the two older Shinobi.

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**Please review. Keep voting on your favorite couples.**

**If Gaara of the desert has such a cool name why shouldn't Naruto?**

**I am accepting suggestions for a cool name for Naruto**

**Please recommend something. I will pick the name that sounds best or hold a vote for the top best names.**


	4. Meet The Teacher

**True Jinchuriki**

**Meet the Teacher**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto then there would be many scenes where Sasuke is kicked in the groin, but regrettably I don't. **

**Pairings:**

**Naruto:**

**Hinata 6**

**Ino 3**

**Sakura 1**

**Tenten 0**

**Temari 0**

**OC 0**

**Yugito 3**

**Harem 4**

**Sasuke**

**Sakura 1**

**Ino 1**

**OC 0**

**Dies alone 6**

**Lee**

**Sakura 2**

**OC 0**

**No one 0**

**So far until further notice the plan is Naruto x Hinata and he'll also be popular with girls. Maybe a fan club fiasco in the making? I can just see Naruto hiding behind Hinata from a swarm of craze kunoichi**

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As he walked down the street, Naruto noticed something different about the looks he was receiving.

Maybe they had heard about the "Mizuki incident".

Or maybe it had something to do with the large cardboard box that was following him around.

He stopped, right there in the middle of the street. He then yawned loudly and stretched.

Then he jumped onto the roof and ran over the roofs towards the academy. 'no way am i gona let someone with such a lame disguise chase me around.'

He jumped the last hundred meters and landed right outside the academy doors, barely sweating. Then walked towards the classroom, and stopped outside the door. The young ninja focused charka into his senses and soon identified who was inside.

He could hear the crunching of chips, and the buzzing of insects. And he could clearly smell the offensive odor of the perfume worn by Sasuke's fan girls. Who spread that lame rumor that Sasuke liked the smell of red roses? The smell was strong enough to make him want to sneeze!

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The classroom was filled with chatter, everyone had heard about the previous night's events.

Mizuki had tried to turn traitor, and was killed.

However the most shocking part that the one who had killed him was rumored to be Uzumaki Naruto! No one could believe it; the classes supposed dead last had killed a Chunin! And not only that but with only one hit!

Upon hearing the news, the last Uchiha had actually stopped brooding for a moment and developed a homicidal look on his face.

His fan girls all oohed and awwd about how dangerous he looked.

Then the room was silenced by an unexpected sound.

ACHOOO!

A very odd sight met the Assembled Genin's eyes. A young man that had blond spiky hair tumbled into the room. He had blue eyes and Naruto's trademark "Whisker marks" but that's the only thing they recognized.

He wore dark green cargo pants and a black shirt with its sleeves ripped off, and he carried a short sword at his left side. His hitai-ate was wrapped around his left bicep. The thing that most attracted their attention was the aura of competence and strength that surrounded him even as he sneezed violently.

Gone was the silly grin, and gone too was the hideous orange jumpsuit.

In the corner, a small girl with dark blue hair and pale pupil-less eyes gasped softly and grew very, very red.

"Naruto-kun?" she whispered under her breath. She was developing some kind of strange feeling, deep down inside her.

Naruto stiffened for barely a moment. There was a smell in here that was different from usual, yet familiar. he couldn't quite place it, it resembled a smell that sometimes could be felt frm Sasuke's fan girls, when they didn't wear that vile purfume. That was odd, especialy since he couldn't smell it a moment ago.

He briefly considered walking over and saying hi to Hinata, as he had heard her voice a moment ago, but he decided against it. It wasn't the right time for that. maybe later.

He quickly went to his seat and sat down, moments before Iruka-sensei entered the room.

"Alright class you will now be placed on teams based on your scores and skills. Now team 1 will be …" he began "team seven will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto." Then thought _'What the hell are those morons thinking! That's the stupidest balance I have ever seen on any given team!'_

As expected Sasuke brooded and Sakura jumped about happily. The shocking thing was the reaction of Uzumaki Naruto. He looked at Sakura, up and down, and then scowled. Then after studying the now stunned kunoichi he shifted his gaze to Sasuke and sighed in an exasperated fashion.

Finally Naruto stood up and walked out of the room.

Everyone thought that Iruka-sensei would chase after him and drag him back. Strangely he did not do so. That was odd, maybe those rumors were true, and naruto had killed Mizuki. Was Iruka scared of him?

Soon after the class was allowed to leave for a short break before meeting their Jonin sensei.

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All the teams were picked up by their instructors with the exception of team 7, actually nether Hatake Kakashi nor Naruto were in the room.

Sasuke was brooding again, and Sakura was walking around the room yelling about untrustworthy teammates and late teachers.

Then the door slid open.

In the doorway stood a man in standard ninja clothing, blue pants, and shirt, with kunai holsters and utility pouches. He also wore a mask over the bottom part of his face. He also wore a green konoha vest that identified him as a Jonin.

"Yo," stated the ninja. "Oh, I guess I have the wrong room I was looking for my team."

"Are you Hatake Kakashi?" asked a disgruntled sakura.

"Hai,"

"Then we are your team!" she practically screamed.

"So where's the third brat?"

"I'm up here."

All three looked up to see Naruto standing on the ceiling. Two jaws hit the ground while Kakashi just looked at the blond boy.

'He may be better than I heard.' He thought. "Why are you on the ceiling?"

"Why are you late?" he countered.

"I was walking on the road of life when I saw..."

"The latest of the icha icha series." Naruto cut in.

"Well let's meet on the roof." Kakashi said rather quickly.

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"We are going to be working together, so we should get to know one another. I'll start. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have several likes and several dislikes, i have some hobbies, my dreams are my own. Now you pinky"

"My name is Haruno sakura, I like… she looked over at Sasuke, I dislike Naruto (her voice was venomous) my hobbies are... she looked at sasuke blushing, my dream is"… she looked at Sasuke and blushed again.

Everyone sweat dropped. 'Fan girls' was thought by three people at once.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen, people who treat me with respect and studying Kinjutsu from various sources, I dislike the time it takes ramen to cook and people who are cruel for no reason, my dreams are enough to make most people piss themselves, so I won't tell you about them to avoid the smell. I also don't like the smell of people pissing themselves"

Naruto's words were calm and reasonably polite, though the mention of studying Kinjutsu as a hobby seamed to disturb both Kakashi and Sakura. The final part about dreams was said in such a way that the air seamed to grow much colder for a second. The way that he said it had Kakashi thinking that it just might be true. 'An interesting boy' he thought.

My name is Uchiha Sasuke I like few things and I dislike my fan girls, (at this point sakura fell into a deep depression) I have no hobbies, and my only dreams are to rebuild my clan and kill a certain person."

The last statement was cold but somehow was overshadowed by Naruto's mysteries dreams.

"Very well, we shall meet at training area 7 tomorrow, we'll see if you really are good enough to be genin." Kakashi stated after a minute of silence.

"Wait, what you mean we already passed the exam." Sakura screamed.

Naruto just sighed; she was such a pathetic looser.

"The genin exam means that you have mastered what it takes to be a genin, but to see if you will get to do actual missions all the genin teams will have to pass a test with their Jonin-sensei." The copy-nin explained. "Oh, and before I forget. Don't eat breakfast tomorrow, or you will throw up."

"noted." Was Naruto's response before he vanished with a puff of smoke.

Kakashi's eye popped open, "a kage bushin? He wasn't kidding about that Kinjutsu thing. To think that he has already mastered that Jonin level technique." He said quietly to no one in particular.

Sasuke's fists clenched tightly, to think that looser knew an advanced Jutsu that the Uchiha didn't was unthinkable.

Sakura just looked confused, "ne, Kakashi-sensei aren't you upset he didn't listen to your instructions?" she asked.

"That is what makes that technique so useful." Said the Jonin, "everything the shadow clone learns is transferred to the creator when it is dispelled."

Sakura just stared dumbly staring at where the shadow clone was moments ago.

Kakashi just vanished in a swirl of leaves and Sasuke stalked off to the Uchiha compound, grumbling o himself.

A few minutes later Kakashi was walking down the street, reading his book when Naruto walked up to him, "I got the feeling you wanted to talk to me back there."

"You were right" answered the copy-nin.

"We can talk over ramen."

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**The polls are still open about the pairings, so please vote for your favorite couples.**

**Remember no slash!**

**Also I am still accepting suggestions.**

**Some include**

**Naruto of the fire**

**Naruto of the forest**

**Naruto of the Crimson Flames  
**

**NEW POL:**

**Should haku be a boy or a girl?**

**Note: if haku is a girl, then should she be paired with zabuza?**

**NEW POL: **

**What kind of techniques should Naruto use?**

**New Poll:**

**Should Sasuke get the cursed seal?**

**New pole: **

**Should the hokage die or should he be saved and if so how?**


	5. The Bell Test

**True Jinchuriki**

**The bell test**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto, there would be more sneaking, less overpowered eyes, and a lot more people suddenly falling over dead. Also Sasuke would be struck in the face with a log every time that someone used Kawarimi no jutsu.**

**Poll results:**

**Pairings:**

**Naruto Hinata 8**

**Naruto Ino 4**

**Naruto Sakura 2**

**Naruto Temari 2**

**Naruto Yugito 3**

**Naruto harem 9**

**Lee Sakura 2**

**Lee OC 0**

**Lee alone 0**

**Sasuke Sakura 2**

**Sasuke Ino 0**

**Sasuke dies alone 12**

**Haku**

**Boy 3**

**Girl 2**

**With Zabuza?**

**Yes 2 no 2**

**Third dies**

**Yes 3 no 3**

**Saved by**

**Jyraya 2**

**Naruto 1**

**Konohamaru 0**

**Sasuke seal**

**Yes 4 no 3**

**Naruto's name**

**Crimson flame (shinkukaen no Naruto) 3**

**Inferno (iferuno no Naruto) 2**

**Of the forest (hayashi no Naruto) 3**

**Crimson forest (shinkushinrin no Naruto) 0**

**Of the storm (boufuu no Naruto) 1**

**Special jutsu:**

**Spit fire 1**

**Control fire 2**

**Storm and weather powers 1**

**Mokuton 2 (I don't want to do this one; it is a first hokage thing only!)**

**Beastlike powers / animal oriented 1**

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"So Naruto, I see you have mastered the tree walking exercise," Stated kakashi as they waited for their order to arrive.

"It's not hard," Stated Naruto calmly.

"So, you have also mastered the Kage bushin no jutsu,"

"Yeah, it took me a couple hours."

Kakashi sweat dropped, '_this kid really is a monster.'_

"so kakashi-sensei, I heard from a reliable source that you were trained by my otousan."

Kakashi stared blankly.

"The yellow flash of konoha."

"YOU ARE HIS SON!"

"Yes."

"WHAT, WHEN, HOW?"

Well, when a mommy loves a daddy…" started Naruto.

Kakashi face faulted. "That's not what I meant."

"I don't know much, but he is my Otousan. He left me some scrolls with the old man, for when I reach chunin." Naruto said his voice filled with sadness.

"I see... he was a great man."

"That's what everyone says." Naruto sighed, "But I'd like to know more about him, from someone who knew him personally."

The ramen arrived, one pork ramen for kakashi and three beef ramen for Naruto.

"Thanks. Teuchi-san" The boy said with a big grin.

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Naruto arrived at the training area nearly two hours late, only five minutes ahead of kakashi.

Both of their teammates stared at them.

"Whew, that was some breakfast!" Naruto said with a grin. Both teammates stared harder.

"You look a little winded Naruto." Kakashi commented.

"I just got back from my warm-up, ten Lapps around Konoha while carrying a large stump."

The jonin sweat dropped, 'not another one'

The others just stared startled. Sakura just looked like he had grown two heads, while Sasuke was putting off enough killing intent to give a grown elephant a heart attack.

"Since when do you do that much training, dobe?" He scowled.

"Since I was six," Was the relaxed answer.

"Now now, we will have our test then," Said kakashi quickly trying to avoid a conflict.

"The rules are simple. Get a bell from me by noon, or else you fail and get sent back to the academy. Also if you fail you will be tied to a wooden post and made to watch while the rest of us eat lunch." The copy Nin explained. "And one more thing, you must come at me with the intent to kill or you will fail. If none of you can get the bells then you will all fail."

"Are you certain that you want that sensei? You might die," Was the calm almost amused comment from Naruto.

"I assure you that won't happen…" he started to say but stopped feeling a blade against the back of his neck and another against his side just bellows the ribs.

The two Naruto clones stood calmly holding their kunai to his vitals.

"I see I may have to get serious after all," he stated.

Suddenly he was gone in a puff of smoke, while a log appeared in his place. Then a trio of kunai came out of the nearest tree, and hit all three Narutos.

The two clones vanished in a puff of smoke, while the real Naruto was suddenly replaced by a stump.

"The test starts now."

Sasuke vanished into the trees.

Sakura vanished into the bushes.

Naruto appeared right in front of kakashi, grinning.

"Naruto what are you doing?"

"Giving you this."

"This is a pad of paper," the copy Nin stated.

"Yup"

"Why did you give me a pad of paper?"

On cue the genjutsu vanished, revealing the paper to be a Naruto cone, covered in exploding notes.

**"Chikushou" **kakashi swore.

Then there was a massive explosion. Both clones vanished and right behind Sasuke, Naruto burst out laughing.

"Gah! What are you doing here dobe?"

"Kakashi is trying to trick us."

"What?"

"Just follow me; we need to talk with Sakura. As much as I hate this, you and Sakura are my team. I have an obligation to share information, and as this is the only way we will pass, I need to talk to the entire team."

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"Alright, my Kage bushin are guarding us, if kakashi-sensei tries to get to us he will have to alert one of my clones. Now we need to talk. We are a team, a three person shinobi team."

"What are you talking about dobe?"

This is a test of teamwork, we are supposed to work together to get the bells. The fact that there are only two is just to trick us into fighting one another."

What are you talking about baka! Kakashi-sensei told us that anyone who doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the academy." Sakura said heatedly.

"Sakura, don't think of him as a teacher, right now he is an enemy, one who is jonin level. If you were out in the field and an enemy jonin told you that you have to get an object from him, and that the one that gets the object will be spared but the others will be killed what do you do? What if he is a jonin and you are a genin. Do you abandon your friends and teammates in order to get away or do you work together to try and work together to bring him down?"

"But he's a teacher."

"No he isn't, he is an enemy jonin who has stolen two vital documents that we were ordered to retrieve."

"Looks like you aren't as stupid as I thought dobe."

"So what do you say, are we all in this together?"

"Hai"

"Hai"

"Good, in that case. _ONITSUME NO JUTSU_" Naruto yelled as he spun around and launched the glowing blue claw from his hand straight at a nearby tree. The technique hit and the tree started to collapse.

Kakashi jumped out of the tree as fast as he could.

"Nice technique I don't recognize it, were did you learn something so powerful?"

"I learned it from one they all fear most."

"I see. Then you have met him."

"A long time ago. When I was six."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at each other, both trying to figure out who they were talking about.

"So sensei, have we passed?" asked Sakura hopefully.

"Do you have the bells?" he answered

"I do!" a Naruto clone jumped out of the wreckage of the fallen tree's branches. It held in its hands a pair of bells.

Kakashi looked down at the bells at his side. "Naruto if you have the bells then what are these?"

Kakashi just had time to note that his students were all grabbed by clones and pulled up into the canopy, before he saw the bells turn into Explosive notes.

BOOOOOM

Sakura and Sasuke just stared as the area where kakashi had been last seen explodes violently. They turned to Naruto with shocked looks on their faces.

"He said we should come at him with the intent to kill didn't he," Was the innocent sounding answer.

"NNNAAAARRRUUUUUTTTOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

The genin looked towards the origin of the enraged roar, then turned on their heel and ran like all the kyuubi itself was chasing them.

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**Until more people vote,**

**Naruto will be a ladies man and Hinata will be his favorite**

**Sasuke will the seal but not get away to sound.**

**The hokage is undecided, I way just flip a coin if saved then ether by Naruto or Jyraya, but I really like the idea of Konohamaru helping his grandpa and turning the favor just enough that the old man survives**

**Haku is a guy, a very girly guy but a guy none the less. And before you sickoes start suggesting a gay haku/zabuza pairing I WILL NOT WRITE ONE!!**

**If people suggest too many gay pairings I just might write a page of: "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!" "GUY-SENSEI!" "LEE!"… Etc.**

**Also Naruto will use some fire moves**

**But I'm keeping the really cool beast style moves! (Onitsume no jutsu, ame no ketsueki, Akataifuu no jutsu…etc.)**

**Translation:**

**Onitsume no jutsu: demon claw technique**

**Ketsueki no ame: rain of blood**

**Akataifuu no jutsu: bloody typhoon technique**

**This is your last chance to vote on Haku and Zabuza!**

**And on Naruto's new name.**


	6. To the Wave

**True Jinchuriki**

**To the Wave**

**I truly am sorry that I haven't posted in a couple days longer than usual, but you can't expect me to post daily, this doesn't mean I can't try.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and the shameful lack of Sasugay-groin-kicking is proof.**

**Polls:**

**Pairings, still accepting votes:**

**Naruto Hinata: 11**

**Naruto Sakura: 2**

**Naruto Ino: 4**

**Naruto Temari: 3**

**Naruto Yugito: 6**

**Naruto harem: 13**

**Sasuke Sakura: 2**

**Sasuke Ino: 0 **

**Sasuke dies alone: 14**

**Lee Sakura: 2**

**Lee alone: 0**

**K, so Naruto is very pimpish, Hinata is the top one so far and looks like that's how things will stay. Yugito is right after her, and I don't know about my readers but I thing that setting up Naruto as strongly with both Hinata and someone from the village that tried to kidnap her might be kinda interesting.**

**Until further notice Sakura will be planed as going with lee, I don't know why but I kinda like this pairing.**

**Sasuke will die alone.**

**Haku is a guy, a very feminine guy but a guy. Not with Zabuza.**

**The Hokage dies or not?**

**Yes 6**

**No 5**

**Who saves him?**

**Jiraya 3**

**Naruto 3**

**Konohamaru 0**

**I still think it would be cool if konohamaru helped save the third.**

**Narrator's names**

**Crimson flame (shinkukaen no Naruto) 6**

**Inferno (iferuno no Naruto) 2**

**Of the forest (hayashi no Naruto) 3**

**Crimson forest (shinkushinrin no Naruto) 0**

**Of the storm (boufuu no Naruto) 3**

**The claw (Naruto no tsume) 1**

"**Shinkukaen no Naruto" it is (don't know why but it is)**

**Sasuke gets the seal**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **

Naruto sat in the Hokage's office, he had been sitting there for several hours, and it was boring. Naruto twitched.

"Oi, Hokage-oyaji, Clone team 3 has finished pulling weeds. They dispelled."

"Oh, good work Naruto. How are the others?"

"The paint-job at the Nara household is done, we weren't spotted."

"Hmm, Shikaku-san will be pleased to hear that. He hates housework."

"Oh and my team are just outside."

"Oh good, they finished." Stated the elderly Hokage.

"Team 7 reporting back from today's D rank mission." Said Kakashi as he walked through the door, accompanied by a very dirty pair of genin.

"What happened to you two?" asked Iruka, he was currently helping the hokage to assign missions.

"Sakura was so fixated on Sasugay, that she tripped and fell into the mud while planting seeds." Said Naruto with audible disapproval.

"Hey!"

"And Sasuke got kicked by a cow."

"How did he manage that?" was the startled response from Iruka.

"He isn't very good with animals, or people, or anything that is alive for that matter."

"Shut up dobe. At least I did the work."

"And I spent the day practicing ninjutsu while getting the work done many times more effectively and not getting my hands dirty. I'd call that a successful mission."

"Yes, results don't lie." Pointed out Iruka, while the Hokage looked amused.

"Speaking of results, Clone team four is on the way back with the daimio's cat, and team one has finished walking the dogs."

"Good work Naruto."

"Thanks, saru-ji"

The other shinobi in the room just stared at Naruto as if he had just grown two more heads and a tail. He had just called the greatest ninja in the village 'old monkey'.

"How is team five doing?" said the old man unfazed.

"They have the package and they're on the way."

"Good"

"Damn it this is completely unfair! Why does he not have to do any work?" screamed a pink haired kunoichi.

"Actually, Naruto has been getting more missions done in one day than any other genin. His shadow clones can think on their own and transfer any of their experiences to him when they vanish. It's quite a clever idea for getting a large number of missions done quickly and still getting the benefits of training." Explained the Hokage.

Kakashi sighed. "While it is true that he didn't personally accompany us, he did do the mission with us, whether you like to admit it or not."

Sasuke sighed, "I have no problem with that. These missions are annoying as well as pointless."

Sakura just stared at him in surprise.

The silence was broken by Naruto. "Hokage-sama, do you know a small boy with spiky brown hair and a scarf? He claims to be your grandson."

"Konohamaru?"

"That's the one. He just attacked my clones."

"Oh, is that going to get in the way of your mission?"

"Not really, I already finished cleaning everything, my clones were just checking for missed spots."

"That's good. Now team 7, I have your next D rank mission." The hokage started.

"NO, I refuse to do more of these stupid D rank missions!" Sakura yelled.

"She is right." Naruto put in, "they are quite boring."

Iruka went into a loud and very long-winded discussion about mission ranks and why the new genin weren't ready for them.

"I am." Naruto quietly said wile looking into space.

"No you aren't, you have been a genin for barely…" he was cut off.

"I do have something that I could give you. It's a C rank mission, you are to guard a bridge builder named Tazuna to his home in wave and guard him until the bridge is complete," Said the elderly ninja.

"Hokage-sama!"

"Quiet Iruka-san. They deserve a chance, and besides Kakashi-san are with them."

"Don't worry I'll protect them."

"Very good, Tazuna-san please come in."

In came a lightly overweight man with grey hair, he held a bottle of sake in his hand. "These brats are the ones that are going to protect me? They look pathetic, especially the short one, he looks really stupid…" the old man was cut-off by a kunai held to his thought by an angry looking Naruto.

"It is unwise to insult those who are risking their lives to protect you, Tazuna-san." He said in a quiet, venomous voice.

"Hey, you know you can't hurt me, you are being paid to protect me."

"I haven't agreed to the mission yet."

The way that Naruto said this seamed to unnerve the old bridge builder. Kakashi couldn't blame him, that kid could be really scary.

"You talk big kid but, can you back it up."

"Why don't you ask Kakashi-sensei." Was the cold reply as Naruto put away his knife and walked back towards his team.

The bridge builder looked at the team's sensei. He was shooting just barely perceptible glances towards his student. Tazuna could tell that the kid wasn't just playing around; he was dangerous as an opponent, and desirable as an ally.

"Well then, we will meet at the main gate at eight in the morning."

Just then another six Naruto walked into the office to nearly everyone's surprise. They were holding a fluffy cat carefully. As the onlookers watched the cat sank its claws into the clone carrying it, which popped into smoke, while another clone caught it.

"We have the daimio's cat." Stated one of the clones.

A large woman walked into the room, "oh, my shnukums, mummy missed you!" she cried as she grabbed the cat and started squeezing the life out of it. The clones all puffed out.

"There we go, that's the last of today's missions." Stated Naruto.

"Here is your pay." Sarutobi passed the envelopes to Naruto.

"Arigato."

Naruto walked out of the room. "I'll see you at ten, Kakashi-sensei." He called back.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sakura arrived at eight, Sasuke arrived at eight thirty, and the client arrived at nine.

At ten Kakashi arrived. "Where is Naruto-kun?"

"You're late." Stated Naruto calmly, walking out from the forest outside the gate.

"Well I was on my way here when a black cat crossed my path, so I had to go around."

"LIER!" cried Sakura.

"No, a black cat did cross his path." Naruto stated. "It was a warning of things to come."

Having said that, Naruto vanished and reappeared behind Kakashi-sensei. "Baka sumashuu no jutsu! (Idiot smash technique)" Naruto was suddenly holding a large tree branch. Next moment the branch was broken in two, and Kakashi was lying on the ground. With a lump on his head.

"Naruto-san, will you please teach me that technique?" Sakura asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Maybe later."

"…well…cough…I guess we should…wheeze…get going." Said Kakashi as he climbed out of the pit, coughing up some sand to the horror of Tazuna.

"Which one of you is the jonin again?"

"He is. But I'm a Jinchuriki, so that makes me much stronger that a normal Genin."

"You're a human sacrifice? How does that make you stronger?"

(A/N: please note that Jinchuriki can be literally translated as "power of human sacrifice")

"No but my abilities are the source of a double sacrifice. One is me and the other was another person."

"Huh?"

"It's complicated, and an S-class secret."

"so how do you know it dobe."

"The secret is about me; of course I know a secret concerning me."

One thought went through the minds of two Genin at the same time, _'is that why all the adults hate him?'_

"Naruto, this is not the right time to be talking about village secrets, even if you are exempt from the rule." Kakashi said while simultaneously walking down the path and reading his orange book.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some time later the team passed by a puddle of water, Kakashi quickly looked at it as he passed. 'Hm, it hasn't rained in days."

Naruto just jumped in the puddle acting like a little kid, he was happy to hear a slight grunt of pain.

Just as the group passed, the water turned into two ninja in masks wielding clawed gauntlets and a chain in between them.

They jumped at Kakashi and apparently ripped him to shreds. Then turned their attention to the genin and Tazuna.

"I'll get you for jumping on me you stupid brat!" one of them yelled as he charged at Naruto.

The other ran straight at Tazuna.

Sasuke launched a kunai into the chain causing it to get stuck but the two ninja simply disconnected it and continued their attack.

Naruto vanished. Suddenly there was a sickening sound of metal scraping on bone. The ninja that had attacked Naruto fell to the ground with a kunai sticking upto the handle into the base of his skull.

Naruto stood on his body and started searching it. He quickly grabbed a kunai from the ninja to replace the one he had used and proceeded to scrape the poison off of his claw and gather it in a small container.

Seeing his brother fall the other ninja charged at his target as fast as possible, at least the mission would be finished.

However Sasuke got in the way causing him to slow down for a moment to defend himself from the attack. His defense fell for a second, but that was enough, Kakashi burst from the bushes and knocked him out.

"You didn't have to kill him Naruto; he could have given us information."

"Yes, but this way I can get the bounty on his head."

The others just stared at how easily the innocent looking blond had killed the man. What made the situation even more shocking was that he wasn't even disturbed by what he had done. Naruto continued to search for belongings; he soon pulled out some more poison and a scroll.

"Oi, sensei who ever said that dead men tell no tales." He said with a grin.

The other ninja who had just woken up, stared for a moment and then bit down on a hidden capsule in his mouth, he was dead in seconds.

"Who were they?" Sakura asked.

"The demon brothers, they were chunin from the mist who were known for never slowing down in a fight even when badly injured and always killing their target." Kakashi explained as Naruto created a pair of clones and sending them back to with the bodies.

"Tazuna-san, you have some explaining to do." Kakashi said turning to the bridge builder while Naruto started examining the different items he had taken from the two chunin.

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**That's this one for you.**

**It's a little longer than the others, but I wanted to get things going.**

**Now Naruto is showing his scariness factor slightly. He killed a guy with no doubts and just started looting the corpse before it had grown cold.**

**The polls are still going regarding the pairings but they will be getting started soon so this is mostly to see how things will progress later.**

**Sasuke will get the seal**

**Haku is a girly-boy and the Hokage is most likely going to survive, but barely.**

**How is still up for grabs so please vote.**

**Naruto is going to be "Shinkukaen no Naruto" (Naruto the scarlet flame)**

**This does not mean he will be using a lot of fire moves. However when he uses his powers he is surrounded by a kind of shield of red fire so it works.**


	7. The Demon Of The Bloody Mist

**True Jinchuriki**

**The Demon of the Bloody Mist**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; if I did then there would be many more scenes where Sasuke's masculinity would be questioned. **

**The pairings poll is officially still accepting votes, but things have not really changed since the last update. Hinata is the number one girl and Yugito is second, Naruto will be very popular with the ladies though it isn't a true harem. **

**Haku is a guy, a feminine guy.**

**Has a father and son style relationship with Zabuza**

**The third will not die.**

**Saved by somebody, I didn't get enough reviews for this one so I'll decide on my own.**

**Sasuke will get the seal.**

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Naruto grinned evilly, the information he had just been given matched what he had been told before he left.

_Flash back: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Naruto, may I speak with you before you go." The old Hokage asked quietly._

"_Sure oyaji, what's that problem?"_

"_It's not my idea, but the council has voted to give you some…more interesting missions."_

"_So they want me to get stuck in too deep and get myself killed."_

"_Unfortunately that appears to be the case."_

"_It was to be expected, if I die on a mission they can both get rid of me and increase the pay that the village gets for the mission by saying it was more dangerous than what they were told."_

"_You seam to have a firm grasp on the concept."_

"_So what's the mission?"_

"_There is a man in the wave country, his name is Gatoh. Gatoh is buying up all the export and import businesses in the wave. Our customers are a group of shipping companies who are being driven out of business by his unethical business practices. Your mission is to eliminate this man, should you choose to accept it." The last part was said with an emphasis to suggest he didn't think that Naruto should accept it._

"_If I don't accept a mission it will just give the council more reason to prosecute me when exam time comes around."_

"_You think you will be nominated for the exams?"_

"_If I know Kakashi-sensei, we will be. Also the council will want their precious Uchiha to be in the exams as soon as possible so they can show him off. I will accept the mission."_

_Flash back ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_-

The Genin team was now in wave country, the sun was high and a cool wind caressed their faces keeping them cool on this hot summer day.

Just as the group was walking towards Tazuna's house, Naruto suddenly tossed a kunai into the bushes in front of them.

"Gah! Naruto watch where you throw those things. You could have hurt someone!"

"**Sumimasen**, Sakura-san I thought I saw something in the bushes."

"Congratulations dobe. You caught the deadly killer rabbit."

While Naruto made a big show of apologizing to the rabbit, Kakashi's brain was running overtime. Something wasn't right. 'That rabbit has white fur, they only have white fur during the winter when days are short, and therefore it was raised indoors. Naruto doesn't behave like that, ever, and since when does Naruto apologize to Sakura. If Naruto thought he saw something in the bushes, then he saw something in the bushes and it wasn't a rabbit…OH SHIT'

"EVERYONE DOWN!"

The entire group ducked just as a massive sword flew over their heads and got lodged in a tree, just as the sword stopped moving a man appeared on the blade.

"Ah, Sharingan Kakashi, the famous Copy Ninja of Konohagakure no Sato, What are the chances of meeting you here. "

"Momochi Zabuza, the demon of the bloody mist, a class Nuke-nin from Kirigakure no Sato I should have expected as much. Everyone stand back, this one is out of your league."

"Well then, how about you hand over the bridge builder and in exchange I won't kill you."

"Gomen, I can't allow that." Naruto calmly stepped forward to stand near Kakashi.

"Oh, how cute, the little Genin thinks he can play with the big-boys."

"Well your head sure is big."

There was a moment of silence; a Genin had just insulted the infamous Zabuza.

"You did it now Gaki."

"My name is not Gaki, its Shinkukaen no Naruto."

(A/N: please note that technically "Shinkukaen no Naruto, can be translated as ether: Naruto of the crimson flame or maelstrom of crimson flames.)

"Aren't you a little bit small for giving yourself fancy titles?"

"…no, my actual name is Naruto. And it's never too early to make a name for yourself."

"Brave words for a Genin."

"I'm more than just a Genin." With that Naruto lightly loosened his Kodachi in its sheath.

"Naruto, I'll take care of this, you protect Tazuna-san."

"Fine, but if you get in too deep, I don't have to follow your orders." Naruto whispered to Kakashi in a voice that was too quiet to be overheard.

Zabuza couldn't hear what was said, but he could see by Kakashi's reaction that the jonin had some respect for the kid. 'Could there really be more to this kid than meats the eye?' he wondered.

The battle began.

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Kakashi was trapped in a sphere of water and there was a Zabuza clone standing between the Genin and the lake where their sensei was trapped.

"Take the bridge builder and run!" Kakashi yelled from his prison.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started, "do you remember what I said?"

Everyone's attention switched to Naruto for a second.

"I'd call this over your head." With those words Naruto was gone.

In the blink of an eye he had his sword drawn and he was behind the clone. Zabuza saw two things in that one moment; one Naruto's Kodachi had a bright red colored blade, and two he had sliced the water clone in half with one swing.

"This is no mere Genin," was all he had time to say before the boy vanished and reappeared directly behind him.

This was a battle of swordsmanship like no other. Zabuza jumped out of the way of the attack but had to release the water sphere to do it. Naruto's sword while only two feet in length was fast and he had chakra running through it to make the blade longer.

Zabuza was a better swordsman, he could tell that the boy had no proper training, yet he was forced to go on the defensive from the sheer ferocity and power of Naruto's attack.

To the two Genin and the bridge builder, their actions were just a blur, but to Kakashi's Sharingan this was a deadly dance of steal.

Naruto's strikes weren't graceful, they weren't precise but they were fast and strong. Zabuza had at first hoped that he could wait for the boy to tire out but he was surprised to see that his opponent appeared to have nearly endless stamina.

Naruto swung high, Zabuza blocked and with a fluid motion brought his sword into a middle height slash, but Naruto brought his sword to block at the last moment and proceeded to kick Zabuza in the face.

Zabuza did a back flip and dived underwater, then used the Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Great Waterfall Technique)Naruto countered with, gokakyu no jutsu (great fireball technique) normally a fire technique cant counter a water element technique but the shear amount of chakra behind this one strike was enough to cancel attack.

By the time the steam cleared, Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

Zabuza just barely spun around in time to catch a bone-breackingly strong punch on the flat of his sword.

He quickly reversed the swing and gave his attacker a slash across the chest.

Naruto skidded back and stopped on the water. He gathered his chakra in his blade and continued his attack with even greater ferocity.

Zabuza was tiring, he could tell he had hit his opponent many times without being injured but the exhaustion was beginning to get to him and his arms hurt from blocking his opponent's inhumanly strong attacks.

Naruto focused as hard as he could on this fight but his opponent was strong, he couldn't keep using its power all the time that would be a sign of weakness. He was already low jonin level at fighting power but his opponent was former ANBU, he was getting tired, and his entire upper body was covered in minor scratches. Minor for him meaning they weren't quite reaching the bone.

On the shore Kakashi stared in horror at his student's level of power, he could tell he wasn't even close to Zabuza's skill but he was holding a stalemate with power and stamina alone. "Minato-sensei you would be proud." He muttered quietly.

Naruto knew he was running out of time, some time soon one of those attacks would be to serous to ignore. He made his decision.

Naruto charged, Zabuza countered, the swords met with an explosion of sparks.

Naruto's overhead chop was blocked but barely. Just then the Zabuza who had blocked turned into water and another Zabuza came out of the mist and struck a lethal blow.

Naruto started to fall from the blow across his back, from his left hip to his right shoulder. However, just as he fell, Naruto spun around and lashed out with his sword, the chakra blade had gone form light blue to angry crackling, crimson.

Zabuza was just barley able to block but the incredible power released when the blade destabilized threw him backwards towards the forest. He was sore, tired and nearly out of chakra but he knew he had to finish this, just as he rose from the ground where he fell; he was struck with a massive wave. The blow was strong enough to shatter his collar bone and three ribs.

Just as Kakashi was about to finish the downed Nuke-Nin he was beaten to the pinch, three senbon needles appeared in Zabuza's neck and he went limp.

"Thank you for wearing him down for me." The masked hunter said calmly before disappearing into the mist.

Kakashi had only one thing on his mind, he had seen Zabuza's last attack and he could only think. 'I can't lose him too!' as he ran to his fallen student.

He needed not have worried though, just as he got to the shore, he saw Naruto stumbling and leaning against a tree with his right hand, the sword was back in it's sheath.

He could hear Sakura gasp as Naruto ripped the nearly shredded shirt form his body.

The marks from the many slashes on his body were already nearly gone; the cut on his chest was completely healed leaving behind only a rapidly fading pink line.

Damn that hurt, Naruto muttered just before collapsing from exhaustion and pain.

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Naruto awakened somewhat unpleasantly, there was a boy yelling wildly about how they were all going to die and how Gatoh was unbeatable.

"Shut the hell up!" he yelled loudly as he got to his feet and noticed all the bandages covering his upper body. He ripped of the bandages and stretched.

He then noticed the looks of shock visible on the faces of the people in the room.

It was most likely dinner time judging from the dishes on the table. He calmly looked around for his pack and pulled out a fresh shirt with the sleeves ripped off. He pulled the shirt over his head as he walked towards the table. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost."

"How the hell is that possible! Just yesterday you had tons of deep gashes and a deadly slash across your back! There is no way you should be fully healed so fast!" Sakura screeched in shock.

"If some tiny scratches like those were enough to nock me out for long, I would have died at the age of two." Was his answer.

The group looked at him shocked until Kakashi-sensei limped over to him and calmly explained. "Naruto's was never well liked in the village; he was quite poorly treated by the villagers and ninja alike."

"I remember my mother telling me to stay away from him when we were little but I don't remember him every getting that badly hurt." Sakura argued.

"In at the academy I was watched by ANBU to make certain that no one broke the fourth's law and told me or any of my classmates the village secret. It's kind of funny because I figured out the secret at the age of five, I was kind of scared at first but I later decided that there was no point crying about it and used it to become stronger."

"What secret?"

"That is something that is illegal to tell anyone who doesn't already know, Sakura-san." Kakashi interrupted.

"If it's some secret training method or technique then it would make sense to teach us since we are supposed to be a team." Sasuke observed.

"No, it is something much more secret and it wouldn't be of any help in making you stronger," Kakashi answered.

"It is not something you can learn, it is simply a secret." Naruto said.

"But then how did it make you stronger,"

"It didn't, but after I learned it I was able to focus harder on my training, because I knew why the entire village wanted me dead."

"The entire village?"

"Yes, well at least everyone over fifteen."

"That's ridiculous, why would some village secret make everyone hate you?"

"Because they are fools, who blame me for the deaths of the fourth Hokage and everyone else who died fighting the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Through all this Inari just stood in silence and watched with wide eyes.

"How could that be, you weren't even born yet!"

"Actually I was born five minutes before the Fox was defeated."

"That's still no reason to hate you, so what aren't you telling us? Dobe"

"Demon's can't be killed, and the nine tails was harder to kill then the rest, he had endless amounts of chakra and his body healed even the worst blows in mere moments."

As he said this Sasuke's eyes grew wide, "like the way you healed a lethal blow overnight?"

"That is part of it; let's just say that the only way to stop the demon was to seal its power in a vessel." Naruto said quietly as he walked away.

"Naruto is not the demon if that is what you are thinking, though some of the villagers think he is." Kakashi sighed, "We lost many of our best ninja to the demon, and Naruto-san lost much more than any other, he lost his family and any chance he had of getting acceptance."

The assembled group looked in the direction of the front door where Naruto had left.

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Sasuke was furious, Kakashi had assigned a chakra control exercise which Sakura had performed on the first try, and Naruto had yet to return, almost five days since he had woken up.

How was it that he, an Uchiha, and the top of his class was doing worse than anyone else on his team.

As Kakashi watched his prized pupil fail miserably at this simple exercise, he thought back to Naruto, that boy had withstood more hardship than any human should and it wasn't over yet. Just as he pondered the Naruto conundrum he heard a voice behind him.

"Was he really treated that badly?"

"Inari, you should be at home, your mother will worry."

"If he is hated so much then why does he still bother living?" the boy continued as if the one-eyed jonin hadn't spoken.

"Not a day goes by that I don't wonder that my self."

"Why should he bother, life is meaningless, in the end there are just two kinds of people in this world the strong and the week, so why bother living." He yelled

"Because I had no other choice." Said a voice from behind the boy, "I tried to kill myself many times, but every time I would lose consciousness and wakeup several hours latter covered in my own blood but completely healed."

"You seem to have stopped trying, if you learned to fight so well."

"Yeah, I guess I realized, if I die then the sacrifice my father made would be meaningless, and to make things worse I wouldn't be able to complete my dream." Naruto said with a sad smile, "but worst of all, those worthless bastards in the council might actually be happy for a change, and can't allow that."

"The council consists primarily of fools."

"Yes, and luckily they are to cowardly to try and have my assassinated, or I might have to kill a bunch of valuable ninja."

"Sometimes you scare me."

"Kakashi-sensei, I have a secondary mission here, so don't be to concerned if I leave in a couple days without telling you," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"May I ask what it is?"

"No, but lets just say that some shipping companies got together to get rid of a common foe."

"Oh? Before you go, are you going to train?"

"What are we learning?"

"Tree climbing."

"Done that."

"Oh, what about water walking?"

"At the age of eight. I also mastered leaf cutting."

"THAT'S NATURE MANIPULATION!"

"Yeah."

"Nature manipulation is Jonin level!"

"So?"

"You really are a monster."

"No, I'm it's jailor."

With those words Naruto walked away.

Sasuke stared at Naruto's retreating back from where he fell. He was certain he saw Naruto glance his way before walking straight up a tree and jumping off into the distance.

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**So what do you think, I had to scrap my first draft of the dinner scene because it gave too much information, and was too angst filled.**

**Poll**

**Who should fight who in the exams?**

**Please suggest new jutsu for Naruto to use.**

**Keep voting for couples**

**Hinata is currently in the lead by a lot**

**And the harem vote has won, but I've never written a harem story so… I'm just making Naruto popular with the ladies, latter**

**Also there will be very little romance until after the time skip.**

**THEY ARE FREEKING TWELVE YEAR OLDS!**

**PS: I'm looking for a beta, but I need one with good grammar.**


	8. Demons on the Bridge

**True Jinchuriki**

**Demons on the Bridge**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other anime. If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would not have been the survivor of the Uchiha massacre.**

**The battles in the exam:**

**So far it seams that the fights are going to be canon. If you disapprove please send suggestions.**

**Hinata is currently winning the "who is Naruto with" poll. She is 5 votes ahead of the next most popular choice, harem.**

**I am considering starting another fanfic; this one would be less demon and more human Naruto fic. My idea is reasonably good I think, it'll be described at the end of this chapter.**

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Naruto was lying asleep under a tree; he had been running around for more than a day, why were there no waterfalls in the country of waves?

Haku crept closer and drew his kunai; this boy was strong, dangerous.

He was ready to strike when the boy spoke, "what do you want?"

"You shouldn't be sleeping in the woods, bad people might find you." Haku quickly hid his weapon.

"What if I want them to find me?"

"Why would you want that?"

"So I can let off some frustration."

"Over what?"

"I can't find a waterfall."

"Why do you need a waterfall?"

"Training,"

"Oh."

"So, how is Zabuza-san?"

"What makes you think I know him?"

"I recognized your scent, you were the one who saved him, and you smell of his blood."

"You have a strong sense of smell."

"Most demons do"

Haku considered asking him what he meant, but he decided not to. "Zabuza-sama is doing better; he will be strong enough to fight soon."

"Good, I want him to be in fighting condition."

Haku was again tempted to ask what he meant, but changed his mind.

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up. "You look like a girl."

"I get that a lot."

"You look better than Sakura-san, that's disturbing."

"She wouldn't be happy to hear you say that."

"Good,"

"You dislike her?"

"She's a weak, lazy fan girl who only became a ninja to be near Sasugay-teme"

"You really dislike him."

"There are no words to describe that pompous, self-absorbed stooge."

"And your instructor?"

"He is a man in a bad position, because of me he had to pass those pathetic wannabes and now he has to do the nigh-impossible task of making them into shinobi."

"You have no respect for your teammates but you care about your instructor."

"He is like a brother to me; he is one of the only people I know who actually knew my father well. You never told me your name," Naruto said, changing the subject.

"I'm Haku, who was your father?"

"It's better to leave that unsaid, it is sufficient so say that he died soon after my birth and I never got the chance to know him."

"Sometimes that is better," Haku said sadly.

"Hmm, sometimes."

"I will see you later…I didn't catch your name."

"Uzumaki Naruto, it has been an interesting chat Haku-san."

"Until we meet again, Naruto-kun." Haku began to leave with his bag of healing herbs.

"Before you leave, remember; don't be too hasty when you come to fight Kakashi-sensei."

"Why?"

"Circumstances might change, you never know."

Haku was about to ask more but he realized that the strange boy was gone. "He's faster than me."

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Kakashi walked towards the bridge, he was upset, Zabuza might be up and ready to attack by now and all he had to rely on was a useless fan girl and a broody egomaniac. Things weren't looking to good for old Tazuna's chances.

"Hey, where's Naruto-san?" Sakura's voice came from behind him.

"He had something more important to do."

"I hired all of you to protect me, how does he have something more important to do than his job?"

"I don't know what it is, but he said that the Hokage asked him to do something while he was here that has higher priority than this mission."

"Higher priority than the livelihood of this country's people?"

"Higher priority than a C rank mission," Kakashi corrected.

Sasuke scowled, the dobe was getting solo missions.

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Zabuza frowned as he waited for the arrival of the bridge builder and his guards. What had the boy meant by what he told Haku, and for that matter why did he not attack Haku? He wasn't foolish enough to think that this Genin hadn't been able to notice the presence of a weapon. So why?

"Zabuza-sama, they're here."

It could wait.

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Naruto was pissed, no, he was beyond pissed. He had arrived at his target's home to find him gone.

He had taken all the thugs too, no one to take out his frustration on.

So where was he?

His office was in his house, and that was vacant.

His bodyguards and thugs were gone.

Today was most likely the day of the attack by Zabuza.

…

Today was probably the day that Zabuza would try to kill the bridge builder.

Oh, shit.

Naruto ran, he ran, and he ran some more.

Then he heard it, a scream, cut short by what was most likely a punch to the face. A woman's scream, a woman he knew.

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Inari was freaking out, hi mom was being dragged away by two thugs, one of them was about to kill him, and he left the oven on!

The man holding Inari's mom fell down dead with a kunai in his spine.

The man who was attacking Inari was grabbed by the back of his neck and thrown head first into a tree.

Naruto retrieved his kunai.

"You killed them."

"I hope not, I nee information from that one."

"You fought Gatoh's men and won.

"Yeah, so?"

"You actually beat Gatoh's men."

"That's annoying, stop it."

Naruto proceeded to 'question' the captured man. This was a complex maneuver that involved a notebook, a pot of boiling water, seventeen needles and a large fish. Inari wasn't sure where he got the fish.

"Alright, Gatoh-san is going to the bridge."

"What! My grandpa is there!"

"And that's where I'm going."

Naruto was gone, running on the water with inhuman speed.

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Naruto got to the bridge, it was misty, there were bodies everywhere, and he could smell his team and their opponents, he went towards Haku's fight.

Haku was fighting Sasuke and Sakura, he was winning.

Tazuna was hiding behind some building supplies.

Sasuke was covered with needles, Sakura was covered with needles.

Sakura looked at Sasuke, it was her fault. He was trying to protect her and he got hurt.

Sasuke's eye's had turned red and there were two commas-like marks in them.

Naruto calmly walked into the ring of mirrors.

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Haku turned his head to look at the new arrival, there was blood on his cloths, and he was carrying something in a burlap sack.

No matter, he was foolish enough to get caught in the "_Makyō Hyō Shō_" (demonic ice mirrors)

He noticed that the two Genin he had been fighting had turned to look at Naruto.

"Naruto where were you? You left your team to do all the work for you and left Tazuna-san unprotected while we fight." Sakura cried.

"Where were you dobe, can't you even walk down a road without getting lost in the woods?"

"I had a minor chore to finish." With these words he jumped to stand on Sasuke's shoulders while bringing his free hand across his body. _"Onitsume"_ he cried as he swung his hand in a backhand slash action, bloody red talons of chakra came from his hand completely shattering the ice dome in front of him and leaving a huge opening. He then jumped back directly behind Sasuke and Sakura and kicked them both through the opening.

"Your attacks are very powerful but you hit the wrong mirrors," Haku stated trying to keep the quiver out of his voice, not many people could shatter his mirrors that easily.

Naruto turned to look straight at the real Haku, "I wasn't aiming at you." With a jump he brought a fist forward and shattered both the mirror and Haku's mask.

Haku noticed him sniff slightly before attacking, "he found me by smell!"

"You don't need to keep fighting anymore."

"As long as Zabuza-sama keeps fighting, so will I."

"No, that's not what I meant…" Naruto had no time to finish, as Haku jumped to stop the attack aimed at Zabuza. "Oh, crap, not now!"

Just as the '_Chidori_' was about to make contact with Haku's chest, It stopped. Naruto had jumped in the way and grabbed Kakashi's wrist.

"Naruto, what are you doing!" Kakashi yelled in rage.

"One moment Kakashi-sensei, he turned to look at Zabuza and Haku. "You two have no more reason to fight us."

"Sorry kid But our mission is to kill the old man, and yours is to protect him, we aren't stopping until our mission is done."

"You were hired by Gatoh-san?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Then your mission is done." Naruto said tossing the burlap sack to the 'Demon of the Bloody Mist'.

Zabuza reached into the sack and pulled out…a head, a severed human head.

A head wearing small sunglasses and sporting a fuzzy mustache.

"Gatoh-san, you've never looked better." The Nuke-nin said in a daze.

"Kakashi's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, "Naruto-kun, you killed Gatoh."

"My employers are more wealthy then the people of the wave. They can afford an A rank assassination."

"The Hokage actually gave you an A rank mission, let alone an assassination?"

"No, the council requested that I take this mission, they felt that I was the best man for the job."

"Oh, that explains why they gave you an A rank mission."

The rest of the people in the area just looked shocked, except Sasuke who was brooding about how the council trusted Naruto with an A rank mission.

"I don't understand why would the council give an A rank mission to a Genin," Sakura said.

"They wouldn't, however the council doesn't like Naruto much, if they think that he will die during the mission, they would be more than willing to risk it." Kakashi answered.

"People just don't seem to understand us demons," Naruto said sadly turning to Zabuza.

"No, they don't, and apparently nether do I." Zabuza answered, "Why didn't you let Kakashi-san kill us?"

"Two reasons, one I have a business proposition for you, and two…you owe me a new shirt to replace the one you ruined during our last fight."

Mass facefault 

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The group was watching over the bridge, there had been some weak stomachs, when they had found the rest of Gatoh's body. He had taken a group of thugs and come by boat to the unfinished part of the bridge where he was planning to kill anybody left standing when the fight was over. They stood no chance, whatever Naruto had done sliced the entire group into small bloody chunks.

Naruto was walking with Zabuza and Haku, "I have a dream, I want to find those like myself, those who were prosecuted for something that was beyond their control, who were mistreated and hated and I want to bring them together. I will create a place where we can live away from the prosecution that has followed us through our lives." He looked over to check if they were paying attention, they were. "I know that I can't do this alone, so I have decided to form an organization, a group of powerful people who know what it means to be hated. I want you to become the first members of this group."

"And if we refuse?" Zabuza was very straight forward about his concerns. Always.

"If you refuse, I will let you leave, should you wish to join in the future you can try to find me."

"You have no problem working with known traitors?"

"The Mizukage is a fool, I agree with your decision to try and overthrow him."

"Hmm, I see."

"Very well, do you want to join my organization under my command?"

"I don't know what makes you think that you are strong enough to lead?"

"You have fought me before."

"And I won."

"I am not so sure Zabuza-sama, even after all those injuries he was able to keep moving, he was able to walk on water and by the time I took you away from that place his injuries had already started to heal." Haku put in.

"I am not human, not fully at least, I am the Kyuubi-Jinchuriki host to the king of demons as well as his apprentice, after I reach chunin, I am to be given access to scrolls left to me by my father, the _Konoha no Kiroi Senko_." Naruto looked confidently at the infamous Nuke-nin. "And I have both the ambition and the determination to accomplish my ambition."

"So what you are saying is that you have more power than you show. I already knew that however you are far from reaching that power. You fought me with your own power and lost. Maybe you could beet me with the fox's power but that is not your own strength, it's borrowed."

"What do you want me to do to prove that I am good enough?"

"A fight, until a winner is decided by an impartial judge."

"That is acceptable. Who?"

"Hmm, Kakashi-san has sharp eyes and he knows your power better than the others as well as my own."

"Very well, I'll get him; we will meet at the first location where we met."

Through all this Haku stood quietly and watched. After Naruto left he turned to Zabuza, "Zabuza-sama, why do you want to fight him again?"

"You watched our last fight, he was holding back."

"Why do you think that?"

"He used only kenjutsu, and considering his obvious lack of skill, he isn't a kenjutsu specialist."

"You want him to face you with his best style?"

"I want to see what he is capable of."

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It didn't take long.

Kakashi was called and he brought a small audience of those who overheard. Tazuna and his family were there and Inari was still fuming that even after he rallied the villagers they arrived to late to do anything.

Sasuke was hoping to try and steal some of Naruto's jutsu which in his mind were clearly the source of his strength.

Sakura came because Sasuke was going.

Finally the preparations were done.

Naruto pulled Kakashi over for a moment, "sensei. Don't stop the fight if I look like I'm loosing, not until I've done everything I can."

"Alright but don't get yourself killed."

They walked to the starting positions. "Hajime"

Naruto didn't wait around after the start. He started hand-signs, "_gokakyu no jutsu_"!

Zabuza dodged and used "_Kirigakure no jutsu_"! Naruto countered with "_Futon: Daitoppa_" (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!

The great blast of wind blew away the mist but Zabuza was gone, suddenly his sword came spinning from nowhere and was stopped by a pair of shadow clones wielding Scarlet Kodachi.

Zabuza came from above and landed with a foot on ether clone's head. The clones vanished into smoke and Zabuza retrieved his sword.

Naruto turned grinned and the sword was replaced by a Naruto clone completely wrapped in exploding notes.

Zabuza turned into water. Naruto turned into smoke. A new pair of fighters jumped from the bushes on ether side of the road and began to exchange blows at a rapid rate.

Zabuza hit Naruto, who turned into smoke; three more Naruto's jumped from underground, one grabbing Zabuza's feet and yanking down "_Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu_" (inner decapitation technique) while the other two readied swords to strike.

Zabuza did a back flip at the last moment breaking out of the clones grip and causing the other two clones to strike it instead. He then threw a pair of kunai into the clones causing them to vanish into smoke.

Another Naruto jumped from a tree with surprising speed and strength, Zabuza fought valiantly for several moments before receiving a blow to the stomach with a kunai and falling into water as this Naruto turned to smoke as well.

The villagers sweatdropped as they realized that so far nobody actually came out of hiding.

Naruto burst from the behind a piece of cloth that concealed him against a tree directly beside the fight. Zabuza came out from the water in a flurry of movement, and they both clashed much faster than before.

Their swords flashed as more clones joined the fray working in perfect harmony of punches kicks and sword slashes. Red claws appeared here and there as the Nine Naruto's all attacked with everything they knew.

Three Naruto's jumped back and fired "Gokakyu no jutsu" again, Zabuza shifted his focus to one of the Narutos that had fired the fireballs but was startled to feel a fist strike him in the stomach with enough force to send him backwards into a tree trunk. One of the burned Narutos had been the real thing.

Zabuza was startled; the boy had actually hit himself with a powerful fire jutsu just to land a hit? Nope, just as he thought this he heard the telltale hiss of an exploding tag behind him.

The crowd had a great view of the great demon of the bloody mist, the big-time A rank criminal thrown through the air and into a large net witch fell into a pit that had more exploding notes on the bottom. He then flew straight up as though out of a canon and into the awaiting grasp of two more clones that grappled him so he couldn't move. Finally another clone came out of the forest and smashed a large newly cut club onto the lethal assassins head.

There were many sweatdrops in the audience. "How the hell did he rig up something that complicated without being seen?" was a cry heard from Sakura.

"A lot of Kage bushin and subtle genjutsu." Sasuke remarked dryly.

Zabuza broke out of the grasp of the clones only to find eight more Narutos holding swords to his weak points.

"The first time we met you said there are eight weak point's on the human body. You asked which one we wanted to be hit in, I decided to take things a little bit further."

"Well, I must say, that was the most complicated trap I have ever been caught in neutral grounds." Zabuza said with a grin, his bandages had come undone and his sharp pointy teeth were visible.

"Shousha Uzumaki Naruto." Kakashi said as if he wasn't expecting this outcome.

"Looks like you win kid, I'll join."

"Oh, good." Naruto said before his clones vanished into smoke and he collapsed from exhaustion.

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**How was that? I wonder if the fight was too much, and no, it wasn't added because there were not enough fights earlier.**

**Please tell me what you think of my style of writing fights and don't forget to vote on the polls that are still active.**

**Now here is my idea for another fanfic I was considering. Please remember this will most likely not slow down my writing as I update less often then I potentially could.**

**Idea:**

**There was a clan that left konoha after the death of the fourth, now they're back.**

**Sasuke wasn't the one who survived the Uchiha massacre and the one who did isn't an avenger.**

**---------------------------**

**I might also put my newly designed clan as well as another clan into my story but as non-konoha clans.**

**I also would like to ask which the best idea for a kakkei genkai is.**

**Demon shadows** (these would be able to act independently of the person and feed off negative emotion, they would try to control the clan member they are part of and would involve special sealing rituals to keep contained)

**Kagegan **(a strange eye power that effectively causes the user to become completely blind while active but gives an ability to perfectly detect the presence, shape and structure of nearby objects. There would also be the ability to channel other senses through it, such as smell, touch and taste)

**Seal masters** (the ability to identify all the properties of a seal by looking at it, and the ability to make and control seals without hand signs, also a special combat style that involves placing seals on an opponent to limit their ability to defend themselves)

**Please vote**


	9. Rise of a Legend

**True Jinchuriki**

**The Rise of a Legend**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the famous film, THE SEVEN SAMURAI ****(by Akira Kurosawa**

**So…I am not going to go straight to the exams, I have decided that there are going to be at least three months between the wave mission and the exams, also the time is early autumn getting close to harvest time for the farmers.**

**This is just a time reference so that the readers have a better idea of when this is. (Remember that in this climate there is no real winter, there is a slightly cooler period when there is a lot of precipitation but that's it.)**

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**I have received some reviews from readers about my new idea for a clan.**

**I would like to point out that most likely Naruto will not be actually a member of the clan; I am using the idea of a powerful clan that accepts Naruto, not his actual family.**

**Now to my current Fanfic**

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Sakura was angry, she was doing laundry.

Sakura didn't have a problem with doing her laundry, but this wasn't her laundry.

It was Naruto's laundry.

Why was Haruno Sakura the official Naruto-hater doing Naruto's laundry?

_--Flashback—_

"_Sakura-san, I need you to do this laundry."_

"_Do it yourself, I'm not your maid."_

"_If you were my maid I would have fired you by now anyways."_

"_I'm not doing your laundry."_

"_It's not just my laundry, it's everyone's, and I have to go study kenjutsu with Zabuza-san and Haku-san."_

_Sakura grew pale, she was very scared of the A-class criminal._

"_And," Naruto continued, "He will be most annoyed if I'm late."_

"_So get your clones to do it."_

"_I have no intention of wasting valuable chakra on menial chores." Naruto stated, "And you aren't doing anything anyways, so you have time."_

"_How do you know I don't have anything better to do?" she answered heatedly._

"_You never train and you don't have any missions to do."_

"_How do you know Kakashi-sensei doesn't have a job for me?"_

"_Oi, Naruto-san, were you going to do the laundry?" Kakashi asked as he walked in._

"_No, Sakura-san is doing it, since I have to go train."_

"_Oh, good, Sakura-san I have another pair of pants that need to be washed." He said brightly, holding up a pair of pants that were quite thoroughly coated in with mud and dirt from the construction site._

_Sakura's eye twitched._

_--flashback ends—_

Sakura sighed, to make matters even worse Sasuke had decided to do his own laundry somewhere else because he (according to Naruto) was afraid that she might steal one of his shirts to add to her 'creepy-fangirl-shrine'.

Sakura sighed; this was going to be a long, and smelly, day.

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Naruto jumped and did a quick strike with his sword. He repeated the maneuver against the training stump.

"Zabuza-san, are you certain this is the right style for me, I use a much shorter sword than you do."

"Nonsense, this style is good for any sword, it is simply a base, it will improve your basic control and allow you to better use your sword and will let you fight more effectively. During our first match you showed that your endurance and speed allowed you to keep up with me, however your form is week and you use more energy than what is necessary on every block and attack. You could be a much more efficient swords man if you could only learn proper control."

"I appreciate what you are doing, Zabuza-san. So, I think after this is over I will teach you a new ninjutsu." The blond announced.

"I am a Jonin, do you really think that you know any ninjutsu that you do." Zabuza laughed.

"Do you know Kage Bushin no jutsu?"

Zabuza paused, "no, I don't"

"Exactly, my hobby is studying forbidden techniques; I also memorized most of Konoha's Forbidden scroll of secrets."

Zabuza studied the boy in front of him, he was everything the man looked for in an ally, he was clever, resourceful and he was strong, but most importantly he had knowledge to share. The sharing of knowledge was the foundation of a strong alliance, sharing your skills had two main effects, one it made your allies stronger, and two it showed that you trust them.

"You know kid, I was doubtful at first but this plan of yours to form a powerful organization may work after all."

"You know why I think the Kage bushin is the most valuable jutsu in my arsenal?"

"Why?" the nuke-nin asked.

"Because anything learned by a clone is passed to the user when the clone is dispelled," The young Genin answered with a clever smile on his face.

"So, it would be good for testing your enemies' skills and for espionage." Haku stated calmly.

"And…if everything my clone learns is also something I learn, then…"Naruto stopped and preformed a Kage bushin no jutsu, "then I can train that much faster."

Both of the mist Nin stopped dead in their tracks. "So with one clone you learn twice as fast, and with two clones three times as fast…"

"…and with one hundred clones." Naruto said placing his hands into the symbol; the forest was full of Narutos.

Zabuza looked at the boy with newfound respect, no wonder he was that strong at such a young age, he trained several times more than other ninja his age in the same amount of times. In fact, if he trained like this on a regular basis…Zabuza estimated that he had at least several years' worth of experience. He would be a master swordsman in no time.

"With access to that kind of training, I could have easily succeeded in my coup." He mused.

"And you still could, the mist is corrupt and the Mizukage has ruined the lives of thousands of people just because of silly superstitions and greed. If you choose to strike at him, I will support your choice whole heartedly." Naruto said evenly.

"Well, let's continue the training; I want to try out this training method."

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Naruto walked towards Konoha, as he arrived at the gates he looked over his shoulder at his teammates. They were trying their best to not look at the burlap sack he carried, the sack containing rotting head of Gatoh.

"Name and business." The guard said without looking at Naruto's face.

"Uzumaki Naruto returning from a completed mission." Naruto said in a business like voice.

"Team 7 returning from a mission in wave country," added Kakashi.

"Momochi Zabuza and Haku here to see the Hokage," Finished Zabuza.

"All right…wait a second, ZABUZA THE DEMON OF THE BLOODY MIST!"

"Yes, that's me." I was told to show you this," Zabuza held out a metal pendant hanging from a chain that he wore around his neck.

_--flashback—_

"_Zabuza-san, Haku-san, I need you to wear these amulets as a sign of your affiliation with my new group. Also, I will have the special hitai-ate ready once we arrive in konoha. I am a personal friend of the Sandaime Hokage and the son of the yondaime and as such I have been able to convince Sarutobi-oyaji to allow open trade and access to my organization, you will not be able to get access to village secrets or ninja only stores but any area that is accessible to foreign traders and visitors to the village is open to you."_

_To say that Zabuza was impressed was like saying that lee has thick eyebrows, a huge understatement. This kid had gotten him, a wanted criminal access to the village as though he was a regular visitor._

"_Before I forget, I can't get you two a house or apartment but…I have set up a private home and training camp near the village. It's in one of the most dangerous parts of the forest but it's great for survival training and you don't even need a guard dog to scare off intruders because they usually cant even get to he front door, which is also hidden."_

_Zabuza snorted, "I like your style kid."_

"_You've said that before."_

"_And it's still true,"_

_Zabuza examined the amulet he was given, it was made of the same metal as a kunai and had the shape of a fang. There was a kanji on one side, Dragon's teeth._

"_Dragon's teeth?"_

"_It's from an old legend, a great adventurer and sea captain found some dragon's teeth. Then when he faced a great force of enemies that he couldn't beat he sowed the teeth like seeds and after he was done they each transformed into an immortal warrior of great strength and killed his enemies."_

"_So we are named after these immortal warriors of legend, I like it."_

"_If we continue our new style training then we may actually become worthy of this name." Haku observed, both he and Zabuza could currently create and train with close to twenty clones and their power was growing at an impressive rate._

_--flashback ends—_

The guard looked confused then memory kicked in and he quickly checked his notices for the day, there it was, "the Hokage would like to see you immediately, Zabuza-san."

As the demon of the hidden mist village left, the guard stared after him and the konoha-nins as they left. "Wow, to think that the Hokage is meeting with someone like that."

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Another week passed and Naruto was gone.

He had not shown up for training, and the team had searched for him all day until the Hokage told them that he had sent Naruto on another solo mission.

Sasuke was fuming, Naruto got serious missions and he got weed pulling and cat chasing. Also he never really realized how hard it was to catch the cat without Naruto's shadow clones.

Sakura was muddy, scratched and exhausted. She had been doing a lot of work ever since Naruto started getting these solo missions. He was getting a new solo mission almost every day, he would return, join the team for a day and then vanish again.

Kakashi was irritated, not only were these solo missions ruining his team work lessons but he was worried about loosing another teammate. He had lost the Yondaime and now he was afraid that he would lose Naruto.

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Naruto was in a ratty, moldy, dirty, and very shabby village. Why was he here? He was here because of his own big mouth.

--Flashback—

"I'm sorry but we can't send our ninja on a dangerous mission such as this without proper payment." The Hokage told the group of shabby farmers from the far corner of fire country.

"But, my lord Hokage, we are only poor farmers, we can't turn away these bandits without help. Please we have tried to find samurai to protect us and we have found some but they aren't enough. We can't turn away these bandits from killing us all and taking the rest of our food and positions. They have already taken our horses, livestock, our rice and even my wife!" the youngest of the farmers exclaimed.

(AN: yes this is the plot for the SEVEN SAMURAI by Akira Kurosawa)

"I'll do it."

The people in the room stared at Naruto, "Naruto, you realize that you will not get paid for this."

One of the more shortsighted ninja present said in a sarcastic voice, "I was unaware that you were willing to offer charity, or are you doing this because you are in the mood to kill something."

"There are many reasons for me to help these villagers, they have seen many hardships and they have been given nothing but ridicule in return, they are desperate and they are in need of help." Naruto grinned evilly all of a sudden, "Also, you say that there is no chance to receive fame, but there is no fame like that spread by a terrified foe."

The villagers stared in surprise, "a single boy? That is all we can get? It would be better if he didn't come, this way at least we will not be responsible for his death." One said in a quiet voice filled with despair.

"Don't underestimate Naruto, he is easily one of our villages most talented Shinobi." The elderly Hokage said with distinct pride.

The farmers looked at Naruto with surprise; this boy was one of the most talented shinobi in one of the most powerful shinobi villages in the world.

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"The village of Konohagakure has only sent us one of their ninja, but their leader has said that he is one of the most promising and skilled young men in his village!" one of the villagers announced loudly to the assembled villagers and the small group of samurai present.

One of the old men looked nervous when the term "young man" was said. Naruto who was concealing himself with a jutsu smirked, probably worried that some handsome fellow will steal his daughter, he thought.

One of the villagers looked around and asked, "So where is he?"

"He was right here a moment ago." The spokesman who had led the group that brought Naruto to the town said, "I swear he was right there!" he shrieked in terror.

"And he is," one of the samurai said. He was a pleasant looking man who looked like someone's favorite uncle.

The farmers cast him a curios look, until one of the other samurai who looked younger than the others said, "What do mean, Gorobei-san?"

"He is standing right there against the wall Katsushiro-kun", Gorobei pointed.

"You are very observant, Samurai-san" said Naruto coming out from behind the sheet that covered him, he had specifically made the pattern just slightly different from the rest of the wall.

"You don't get to have my kind of experience without learning to spot a concealed ninja."

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, also called Shinkukaen no Naruto, I have little interest in the running of the village, I came here to remove your bandit problems, if you insist on paying me, you can find some way of remembering my name. I may travel often in the future so it is always nice to have a place to stop for the night out of the rain." Naruto said clearly in a confident voice.

"What makes you think you can get rid of forty or more bandits?" another samurai said, he appeared to have a recently shaved head and his bearing showed him to be the strategist of the group. "You are merely a Genin according to your clothing, no matter how talented you are for your age; surely you wouldn't be so foolish as to think that you can handle forty bandits alone."

"I hate overconfidence; I would not be caught dead thinking that I am the best in the world or that I am undefeatable because of who my parents were or how well I did in the academy." Naruto began, "in fact I was bottom of my class in the academy and I never met ether of my parents; however I happen to be one of the only people in the world who have mastered the Kage bushin no jutsu. Are you aware of what that is?"

"I have heard of many different bushin no jutsu most create a duplicate of the ninja and are used to distract, some are even solid enough to fight." The bald samurai answered.

"that is correct, however the thing that makes the Kage bushin a forbidden technique considered only usable by jonin and above," he paused to let them digest that fact, "is the fact that it creates perfect copies of the user without requiring any special materials and the copies don't only look like me, they think and react like me, they are fully solid and each is just as strong as the original." He paused again watching as most of the villagers looked at him in a combination of awe and terror, "the reason I am considered a master of this technique is because I can make over one hundred such clones."

"So I see that you are not just another Genin, and you sagest simply creating an army bigger than the bandit's own and attacking them until they run away?"

"No," Naruto grinned "those who attack the weak are the worst kind of scum, almost as bad as those who betray their comrades. They must be eradicated."

"You believe you can do this?"

"I feel that a demonstration is in order, it would be difficult to explain my abilities in combat simply by talking."

"Very well, a battle, luckily there are many sticks to use as 'swords'."

"No, true skill only shows when you use real weapons."

"Are you certain?"

"I am,"

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They stood twenty paces apart; the battle would be between Naruto and the one called Kyuzo, it was decided that he was the best swordsman and would be most likely be able avoid making a fatal strike, Naruto agreed because this way he could show what he was capable of.

"Begin,"

Kyuzo set his sword into a ready position, Naruto drew his Kodachi.

Naruto saw that his opponent was waiting for him to make the first move, so hi did.

Naruto focused and a blade of chakra grew lengthening the Kodachi's blade to the length of a full katana to the amazement of the observers.

He charged quickly but not at full speed, as expected his opponent was ready and countered with a swift downward chop. He rolled to the side coming up at his opponents flank and struck again, again he was blocked. Naruto grinned; this guy was at least as good as Zabuza.

The battle was quite even, both were holding back but it was clear that the samurai was stronger and more skilled than Naruto and the only thing Naruto hade over him was his speed and endurance. This man was a true master of the sword.

After several minutes they stopped, both breathing heavily and sweating from the intense workout.

"You are much better than Zabuza-san, his speed and skill is impressive, while yours is the stuff of legends Kyuzo-san."

"I have heard of the dangerous assassin Momochi Zabuza, he is well feared. I am surprised that you know him."

"He has shifted his allegiances recently to aid me in accomplishing common goals. He taught me Kenjutsu and I still train with him and Haku-san regularly to improve my skill."

"Well, I must say you may be one of the best swordsmen among our group, it would be an honor to include you in our battle plans. We may even be able to avoid unnecessary deaths on our side." The bald leader stated with a warm grandfatherly smile.

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The plan was ready and the field was set.

The people were nervous and near panic.

Then it happened…

Three bandits were spotted near the town, three horses not far away.

The bandits were according to plan, supposed to see the fence but not the defenders. This failed, miserably.

One samurai, one who was not notified and was unprepared was seen by the scouts, Kikuchiyo.

The chase was on, the bandits were cornered and killed near the horses and one was captured.

Now it was Naruto's turn to shine.

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The mission was simple, sneak into the bandit camp and kill as many as you can.

Not a problem.

Naruto arrived at the camp on foot; he jumped through the trees as quickly as the horses ran and arrived at the destination actually ahead of the three samurai and their guide (they didn't have enough horses to bring more).

As the group prepared to strike, they were distracted from their plans by a gurgling scream of terror.

"Naruto" four minds thought as they realized the blond was gone.

As the four arrived the sight that met their eyes wasn't for the faint of heart.

Bodies littered the ground, the buildings were aflame and the horses trampled those who tried to ride them. In the center of this, Naruto stood surrounded by a scarlet shield of flame. He stepped forward and swung his hand as claws made from the same red flame-like energy came from his fingers and sliced two more bandits as they ran.

Then he was gone, a gunman just fired a shot as his target vanished, he was sliced cleanly in half by the blond boy's Kodachi. His attacks always struck and each hit was lethal, this was the power of a demon not of a man, and yet it was a man who wielded it.

The battle was swift if you could call it a battle; the bandits were killed with the exception of five. When asked why he did this Naruto simply said that those who survived would tell exaggerated stories and his fame would spread, famous ninja got paid more for missions. Also the stories would scare other bandits away from this area.

This mission was done, and he had gained not only fame and a safe place to stay the night but also the respect and friendship of seven comrades in arms.

A job well done

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So, I would like to get reviews, I like reviews.

Reviews make me more motivated to write.

There will probably be another chapter before the exams start.

Please vote on who should fight in the exams.

Canon or not

I have received recommendations for a Sasuke vs. Neji fight and a Gaara vs. Naruto

Please send your ideas, and vote.


	10. The Last Days before the Tests

**True Jinchuriki**

**The Last Days before the Tests**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the absence of Sasuke-groin-kicking is proof of that.**

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"This is a waste of my abilities."

"Ano, at least it won't take long." The girl's voice was little more than a whisper.

"Every cloud has a silver lining."

"How very true!" said a voice from the trees, as three forms jumped down onto the road to surround the Genin.

Naruto sighed, and now he had to fight nitwits.

_--Flashback--_

"_Naruto-kun, Hinata-san I am sending you on a D - rank mission to bring medicine to an old lady who lives just outside of the village." The Hokage said._

_Hinata turned red and nearly fainted._

_--End flashback--_

"At least I guess this can count as training." Naruto said in a bored tone.

"Hand over the girl and we won't hurt you."

Naruto looked over at Hinata. She looked scared.

"So, you aren't after the medicine?"

"No"

"Sigh…so I guess I can't change the level of this mission to a C-rank"

"Just get out of the way."

"Make me."

The enemy ninja looked at the infuriating boy with twitching eyes.

"A-Ano, N-Naruto-kun, they're cloud jonin, you should go back to the village."

"If I did that it would count as betraying a comrade, those who betray their comrades are worse than trash." He said calmly.

"An admirable motto kid, but you're out of your league."

"How about I make a counter offer," he said as though he didn't hear the ninja talk. "You withdraw, and I won't go out of my way to kill you."

"You really are stupid Gaki."

"No, just bored."

"At least you have some dignity." With that said he attacked.

Naruto sighed, and then vanished from sight.

The attacking ninja just fell, a bright red bladed sword sticking out from between his eyes.

The other male jonin was struck with an uppercut to the jaw that threw him into the air. As he flew up the young, blond Genin appeared above him, he had no time to defend, as the boy preformed a series of hand signs and smashed his hands into the man then quickly disappeared and reappeared on the ground.

As Hinata and the third jonin watched the man was spun around by the winds to face directly downwards and began spinning rapidly while upside down. Finally the poor man was launched directly downwards at incredible speeds to smash face-first into the ground.

Hinata looked at Naruto in awe, he was incredible.

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He's good for a Genin, the last cloud-nin thought.

She readjusted her belt and turned to look straight at him.

Damn she thought, the boy is impressive, I really wish I didn't have to kill him.

She frowned, I don't want to do anything for that bastard, the Raikage, but I have no choice. I have nowhere else to go.

She didn't want to fool herself, no one else would accept her, she was a monster, but at least someone had some use for her.

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Naruto frowned, she was just his own age, or not much older, how could she be jonin?

There were two answers: she had special powers, or she was very talented.

Even after these conclusions Naruto felt his eyes go wide as small wisps of violet flames began to swirl around the cloud nin.

"**Kit, those are the flames of Nibii no Nekomata!"** the fox practically shouted as he forcefully pulled Naruto's consciousness to his cage, **"she's the Jinchuriki of the two-tailed Cat!"**

"I noticed, how do I beat her, she wants a fight?"

"**Summon my Chakra, she fights with fire you will need my regenerative power."**

"Right, can your chakra barrier protect me from her attacks?"

"**Doubtful, better rely on healing."**

Naruto woke up, only a second had happened and his opponent was waiting to see his first move.

He frowned; he needed to subdue her without killing, no assassination techniques.

The two Jinchuriki circled each other. Each waiting for an opening, Naruto obliged,

Quickly shifting, he intentionally allowed his body to become slightly off balance.

Quick as a cat, the girl struck, flames burst from her hands and completely covered Naruto. As the flames receded she was shocked to see that he wasn't there.

Where was that boy?

Just as she turned to examine the area behind her, he struck. As soon as the flames had hit him, Naruto had quickly focused all the demon chakra he could into healing the burns as he set a genjutsu around himself to hide. He had counted that she would think that he dodged and would not check for his genjutsu, it was a gamble and he had hit the jackpot.

She knew what happened, he had tricked her, but surely now he would be injured and unable to fight at his best. She had never Fought Uzumaki Naruto.

The punch caught her in the side, just under the ribs and launched her into a roll. She recovered quickly and countered with a lethal blast of fire. Naruto was again engulfed in flames.

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Hinata was horrified, the man she loved was being toasted alive by some strange fire jutsu and she could do nothing…she was too weak.

But surprisingly hope was not lost; Naruto burst from the flames and launched three kunai at the Cloud girl.

As the mysterious girl dodged the attack she saw something that made her nearly piss her pants. The young man who she fought had looked straight at her with red hateful eyes, eyes filled with the promise of a painful death. There weren't many things that scared the young Jinchuriki but those eyes looked more terrifying at that moment than the demon trapped inside of her, the demon if released was terrifying but those eyes were the stuff of nightmares.

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Naruto reigned in his power quickly to avoid letting her know what he was, it would only cause her to fight harder if she knew that her opponent was a Jinchuriki.

The fire came again in greater intensity; she was beginning to try harder. He knew that he had to stop this attack, even with the Kyuubi's power he would be crippled by a direct hit.

He had only one way to block it, and it would take a lot of chakra.

He had no choice. His only way to escape the attack was the _Akataifuu no jutsu_.

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As the fire struck there was a strange shrieking sound like nails on a chalkboard combined with strange hum and the fire was thrown away from the target surrounding it completely but not hitting the boy in the middle.

As the fire settled, she was happy she hadn't attempted a taijutsu attack under the cover of the flame.

The ground around Naruto's feet was covered in deep slash-marks in a spiraling pattern centered on Naruto and a tree that had been to close had been sliced into salad.

He stood there and his eyes were blood red, his slit pupils looking straight into her soul.

"**I recognize those eyes! Kyuubi no Kitsune!"** cried Nibii in her cage getting her host's attention.

"You're like me?" she said in shock.

"Now don't go telling everyone, you'll scare of all the prey." He answered with a cocky grin.

"I underestimated you, no more, now I'm serious." As she said this the flame began to swirl around her body and forming two long tails of violet fire.

He sighed, this had just gotten harder.

As she dived forward using her speed and strength to deliver a close range attack, he also released his power, or a portion of it at least.

The flaming tails were extinguished as the intense blast of pure chakra hit her and she was nearly knocked to the ground, there in front of her stood her opponent, his body covered in a layer of red chakra, the chakra swirled like fire and obscured his body completely as one single tail of chakra formed behind him, the chakra tail whipped around and knocked her to the ground.

She tried to stand but she wasn't fast enough. His fist connected with her jaw and sent her flying into the air, and then he formed one seal with his hands. _"Kage bushin no jutsu"_

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She was shocked, his power was incredible! However, she reminded herself, she was no pushover ether.

As his clones charged, she fell into a taijutsu stance and began to fend off their attacks.

As the clones diminished she launched a wave of fire away from her body that dispelled the remaining clones. She reexamined the field, her opponent was gone, but where.

The ground beneath her feet trembled and he burst out of the ground to strike her in the jaw once more.

The battle continued: punch, block, kick, dodge, uppercut, parry, and counterattack, dodge.

The combatants were getting tired, the cloud Nin was low on chakra, and Naruto was losing his patience.

Finally something snapped.

After another dodge Naruto back flipped away and launched a ninjutsu. _"Futon: Daitoppa no jutsu"_

Quickly reacting, his opponent dodged and launched two jets of purple fire from her hands.

Naruto rolled between the jets and jumped straight up into the air, just as he was above his target there was a blast of smoke and a solid ring of Narutos surrounded the girl, each drew a single shuriken and launched them shouting _"shuriken, Kage bushin no jutsu"_ at the top of their lungs.

The girl's eyes turned as big as dinner plates as shuriken blotted out the sun, "oh shit".

She tried to run out of the way but he was ready, just as she moved three more of his clones suddenly wrapped their arms around her and all covered her just as the shuriken hit.

The real Naruto grabbed Hinata and pulled her out of the way just as the area was lit up by a massive explosion.

He rose and dusted himself off, "Bakuretsu Kage bushin no Jutsu."

He heard clapping; Naruto turned to look at the elderly Hokage and his ANBU guards, "about time you got here old man."

"I had to fight my way through most of my body guards to get here; they really didn't want me to get near this fight."

"Understandable"

During the fight a small crowd of shinobi had gathered, drawn by the high chakra levels like moths to a flame.

Naruto walked across the field of battle, he was tired but the adrenalin pumping through his veins was keeping him going. As he passed his beaten opponent he heard her voice.

"Who are you?"

"Shinkukaen no Naruto, and you?"

"Nii Yugito, you aren't going to finish me off?"

"I still have use for you." With these words he walked on stopping by the corps of one of the fallen jonin, he gripped the handle of his Kodachi and yanked it out of the man's skull.

As he cleaned and sheathed his sword he turned to the Hokage, "when she is healed enough to talk, send Konohamaru-kun to get me, he will know where to go."

"She is an enemy who attacked you and your team."

"She is a weapon who has a foolish wielder."

With that he began to leave.

"Naruto-kun, where are you going?" asked a dazed looking Iruka.

"Hinata-san and I need to deliver medicine to a client."

The ninja stared at him like he was mad, he had just killed two jonin and disabled a highly powerful enemy combatant and he was more concerned about a D-rank mission?

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"Naruto-kun, you really shouldn't have tried to walk all the way to the old woman's house after a fight like that."

"It was my job."

"You fought two jonin and a Jinchuriki but you didn't even go to see a medic Nin!"

"Relax oyaji, knowing the konoha medics, they would probably kill me and say it was wound from my battle."

The Hokage sighed; Naruto had walked straight to the old woman's house and given her the medicine right before collapsing into a dead faint.

Iruka had tried to carry him back but found that he was wearing over three hundred pounds of weight on his body the entire time. "You should have removed your weights."

"I didn't have time."

"Are you certain you want to try and draft her into your group? She tried to kill you."

"If I killed everyone who tried to kill me half of this village would be dead."

Elder man froze and looked at Naruto, "I'm honestly surprised that you haven't yet."

"What do you mean?"

"In your position many would have gone mad."

"Who says I haven't?"

The kindly old man looked down at his successor's son, "a psychopath wouldn't have the clear head necessary to come up with all those traps and combat strategies."

"They say that there is a fine line between genius and insanity, but what they don't tell you is that it doesn't mater what side you are trying to cross from."

Sandaime looked over at the boy, "you may be right."

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Konohamaru was tired, no he was beyond tired, Naruto-oniisan had given him an assignment for training, and it was hard, very hard.

He sighed and got back to work, trying to master the difficult jutsu on the scroll in front of him.

At least it was paying off, he and his team had quickly gotten better at concealing themselves (Naruto refused to associate with ninja who used pathetic disguises) and they were the three best students in their class. Naruto had started teaching them chakra control and several jutsu that would make them better prepared than most of their classmates.

They could already do all academy level jutsu and were starting on some more difficult ones.

But why did this so called _Gokakyu no jutsu_ have to be so hard?

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Yugito woke up to the smell she knew reasonably well, she had spent a lot of time in the hospital when she was younger, when you are being trained to be the ultimate warrior from early childhood you tend to get hurt a lot, (unless you have superhuman regenerative powers).

The guards were new, but the bed was comfortable…wait guards?

She tried to sit up, then stopped and decided to never try that again, her entire body was one giant injury.

Then it all came back, the mission, the deaths of her team (good riddance to bad rubbish) and him.

The boy, Kyuubi's container, he had beaten her into a pulp and she could feel every bit of that now.

"Oh, you're awake. I trust you remember what happened." There was an old man sitting next to her.

"Where am I?"

"In Konoha's hospital, you have some major injuries."

"Who are you?"

"I am Sandaime Hokage." The man said and then laughed at her expression, it resembled a fish.

"To what do I owe the honor, watching to make certain I don't escape before you have me interrogated?"

"I can't do that."

"Oh, and I thought the Hokage was supposed to be the head of the village, but you say that you don't have that authority."

"I am in charge of all village matters, but you are not a prisoner of my village."

"Then whose prisoner am I?"

"Naruto's, he has a small group he has formed which I have an arrangement with. You are their prisoner currently, but as they have no medical facilities to look after your wounds they asked that you be placed here until you are healed."

"So I am the prisoner of some super-powered Genin?"

"Actually there are very few of them currently and all of them are higher rank than Genin with the exception of Naruto. Speaking of which, I should go and contact him to tell him you woke up."

"And then?"

The old man wasn't paying attention anymore as he left with his guards; all that was left of the ninja who had been guarding her was one team of Genin.

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"Ah, you are awake."

"Hai."

"How do you feel?"

"Like I was caught in a massive explosion."

"Oh"

"How long was I unconscious?"

"One week"

"Oh, so did you come to interrogate me and learn my village's secrets?"

"Nope,"

"Then why are you here?"

"Well I'm glad you finally asked! I am as you know a Jinchuriki, as such I was greatly hated by the villagers who only saw me as a monster even though I wasn't even aware of my…condition. I have felt the pain of being alone and I have decided that I will make certain that I am never alone again and do the same for as many others as possible, to make this dream a reality I have chosen to create an organization. So far there are only three of us," at this point Zabuza and Haku walked in, "these are my associates, Momochi Zabuza and Onikoori no Haku. We are still gathering members, as three people are hardly enough to make our dreams come true."

She looked at him, then at the two men behind him, "Zabuza as in Kirigakure no Kijin? That Momochi Zabuza?"

"Hai,"

"I'm sorry I have never heard of you," she said turning towards Haku.

"I try not to let myself be known most of the time, I am Zabuza-sama's partner at assassination, and I was at one point a Kirigakure hunter."

"Oh,"

"I can tell that you don't like your current position as member of Kumogakure." The Genin who were on duty had been listening the entire time and showed some surprise at this.

"How do you know that, Naruto-san?" she asked in a mocking tone.

"when we fought I noticed that while your abilities would allow you to have a good defense you always left yourself open to attacks while focusing purely on attacks, even after you realized that I was a Jinchuriki you didn't increase your defenses, instead they actually deteriorated and you went out of your way to intimidate me even though you knew it would only make me fight harder."

"Oh and what does this tell you?"

"That you were hoping that I'd kill you."

The entire group in the area suddenly shouted "what?"

Naruto continued, "You hate your current home, the only reason you haven't abandoned it yet is because you think that you have nowhere else to go."

She looked at him in surprise.

"I understand how you feel, it's the same reason I didn't leave konoha when I was six, though at the time I blamed it on the fact that some villagers broke my legs with a fruit cart." He said as though reminiscing about his first day at the academy.

"And you didn't kill them?"

"I didn't even find out about my abilities until after it happened and I didn't learn to use them for another couple months."

"Really? I've been able to control fire since I was a baby."

"Your powers are more obvious than mine." He said, "my abilities are very subtle, mostly just an increase in my already present abilities."

"That thing you did during our fight to block my flames was pretty noticeable I think."

"That was not my powers, it was a jutsu."

"Really? That's pretty impressive."

"Anyways, before we get too far off topic, I captured you for one reason, I want to invite you to join my organization."

"WHAT?" she sat up so fast she nearly flew out of bed, she realized too late that under the covers she was completely naked with the expiation of the many bandage covering her body.

Zabuza's eyes grew wide and Haku pinched his nose while his face grew very red, Naruto meanwhile fell backwards onto his rear end in shock.

Of the three Genin who were guarding her one who was dressed in a green spandex suit got a nosebleed while shouting something about the power of youth and beautiful flowers and his teammate who had long black hair and white eyes suddenly developed a nosebleed so bad that he fell over backwards. Their female teammate just tasked at them and hung her head in shame at her teammate's behavior.

Yugito quickly yanked the covers up to cover her body and looked at Naruto, "you…you want me to join your group? You actually want me?"

"Hai, Yugito-chan it would be an honor to have you in my little organization."

Yugito's eyes misted up as she looked at this strange boy who was grinning happily at her.

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**Wow, that took a wile, I've been really distracted lately but I have noticed that I receive more reviews on the day after I publish a new page than in a week when I don't.**

**I guess that means I have a small following of devoted fans and that's it, but that's good enough for me, my first fanfic ever has been met with more success than I ever imagined!**

**Please vote on my new poll**

**WHAT SHOULD NARUTO'S SUMMON BE?**

**Please review, your reviews inspire me to write more.**

**Also please note that next chapter will include the start of the chunin exams.**


	11. Demons at the Exam

**True Jinchuriki**

**Demons at the Exam**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and had thought that this would be quite obvious, but just to avoid lawyers and complaints about the dreadful lack of Sasuke kicking I decided to put in a disclaimer.**

**Well, my poll is quite a success and here are the most likely choices**

**Dragons 3 **_**(cause of the name for the organization)**_

**Foxes 6 **_**(Kyuubi is not a summon)**_

**Toads 1 **_**(technically the amphibious mafia)**_

**Wolves 2 **_**(just because they're cool)**_

**That is all**

**So far these are the most likely.**

**Before this chapter starts I would like to apologies for updating so much later than I had planed. I am a notorious procrastinator.**

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"Now as I was saying, we shall be practicing stealth today."

"Hai Naruto-nisan" three voices coursed at once.

"Good, now meat me at the hot springs for your training"

"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE THESE KIDS DO? PEEP ON RANDOM PEOPLE?"

"No, what kind of pervert would make his students go peeping as a stealth exercise?"

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Somewhere in a nearby town a strange man with white hair sneezed alerting his "research" of his presence.

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"As I was saying, I will be teaching you how to use some special concealment techniques from water country. The Kirigakure no jutsu (concealing mist technique) the hot springs are the perfect place to study it at first so you can get the basics down without using up all your chakra."

"Do you really think you are able to teach these children how to be ninja Naruto-Baka?"

"Don't insult Naruto-nisan, ugly, big forehead girl!"

"When I get my hands on you, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"

Konohamaru charged off down the street chased by an enraged Sakura.

"That's one way to practice your speed." The remaining three sweatdropped, and then left to follow the pair.

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"Hey let me go!"

"Damned annoying brats they make me so mad, I think I just wring this ones scrawny neck!"

Naruto sped up this was getting annoying. As he came around the corner he saw Konohamaru being held by the scarf by some guy in a black body suit with a lot of make up.

"Let him go Kankuro, we could get in trouble." Said a kunoichi in a lavender skirt, she had blond hair in four pigtails and a large object on her back, an oversized war fan.

"Aren't you a little old to be wearing 'footy-pajamas'?" Naruto just couldn't help saying it his inner fox was screaming at him to, literally.

"How about I just crush this little brat's neck and then deal with you."

"That would be very stupid of you. That 'brat' as you call him is the Sandaime Hokage's grandson." Naruto said in a calm monotonous voice.

"See, I knew we would get in trouble lets just go." The girl pleaded.

"Alright this one's more trouble than he's worth but what's stopping me from thrashing you?" the pajama boy, Kankuro said as though the girl behind him hadn't spoken.

"Kankuro you are an embarrassment to our entire village." A voice came from the tree near by.

"…hmm, that is a good point but I was going to say something different." Naruto deadpanned.

The three academy students with him snickered quietly. While Sakura had just noticed Sasuke standing on a tree branch looking annoyed at something and a little bit startled by the stealth of the person only meters away from him.

"What's wrong Uchiha-teme, did you want to save the day and make all the ladies love you." Naruto said in a condescending voice without looking at his teammate.

"Shut up dobe."

The red haired boy with circles under his eyes and red hair landed near Kankuro. "You seam strong, what's your name?" he said looking in the vague direction of the konoha ninjas.

"It is common curtsy to introduce yourself first before asking about someone else's identity." The Uchiha survivor said trying to look tough, Sakura was fooled.

"Sabaku no Gaara, and you?"

"I am Uchiha Sasuke."

"Not you, you are irrelevant."

"Shinkukaen no Naruto, it is a pleasure to meat you. You are ninja's of sunagakure; I take it you have come for the exams."

"We have, you are participating?"

"Our sensei has yet to give us the forms but I can assure you that we will be, the council will want to show off their prized Uchiha and I know that I most definitely meat the requirements for chunin."

"We shall battle in the exam; I look forward to proving my existence by killing my most powerful enemies."

"I think therefore I am."

"What?"

"It's an old quote from some old philosopher, if you think then that is proof that you exist."

With that the three sand ninjas left with very confused looks on their faces.

"_**He is the container of Shukaku, the ichibi no Tanuki."**_

'_I noticed, he smells of sand and blood.'_

Naruto came out of his brief talk with the Kyuubi just in time for Sakura to say "how dare he disrespect Sasuke-kun like that!"

Naruto sighed, "Ok guys, training time."

"Hai Naruto-nisan"

Naruto thought back about the trio that was following him around as he walked with the academy students towards the hot springs. It had been on one of the days off he took between missions recently, as he walked towards his favorite training ground he noticed three people trying to tail him, one was reasonably well hidden but the other to were awful, they were more obvious than if they had just walked after him. Finally after some time he stopped turned and said, 'Konohamaru, who are the other two?" Konohamaru had jumped out from his surprisingly good concealment and introduced his two friends, Udon and Moegi who wanted to also be trained by him. He had been giving them assignments and showing them techniques to help train them to be good ninja ever since that day. They were hard workers, resourceful and more importantly than anything else, they were sympathetic to his cause, they were good kids and they had once upon hearing him explain his dream sworn to help him. Good kids.

"Naruto-nisan, we're here."

"Huh, oh right sorry just thinking, alright now here is how you do the Kirigakure no jutsu."

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This was ridiculous; over twenty people were gathered together in the narrow hallway leading to the wrong class room. The genjutsu was simple, and yet so many people had fallen for it.

Naruto started to tell the Uchiha to keep his mouth shut and let these idiots fail, but he wasn't fast enough.

Just as the Uchiha and the chunin by the door were about to duke it out, they were stopped by a green blur.

"I am the youthful green beast of Konoha! Rock Lee! You are very beautiful would you like to go out some time? I swear that I will protect you with my life! My beautiful flower of youth." He announced.

Cue mass sweatdrop

Sakura looked in horror at the exuberant youth's giant, fluffy eyebrows. "No way, you're weird, get away from me!"

Most didn't notice it but those words hurt, they were familiar. Naruto looked at the boy thoughtfully, he has felt pain.

"Uchiha Sasuke the genius, fight me so I might see how my power compares to mine!" the green beast bounces back fast.

And so they fought…it was kind of one-sided.

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The fight began; lee was launching kisses at Sakura like some ninja throw Kunai.

Sakura was swooning over Sasuke.

And Naruto was watching for weak points in their defense.

Sasuke was good, for an academy student. His opponent was going easy on him. But that changed after Sasuke used the Sharingan.

Suddenly Lee was serious he came forwards with incredible speed and knocked the Uchiha into the air.

"Hmm, shadow of the dancing leaf, clever." Naruto muttered as he watched lee appear behind Sasuke.

As lee was preparing for his finally Naruto saw what he was about to do, he would send his opponent spinning head first into the ground.

Before the attack was executed a large turtle stopped it and began to lecture lee, then a man who looked like a bigger version of lee with even bigger eyebrows smacked him on the head and began some kind of strange hugging and crying ritual of describing what sounded like self mutilation to Naruto. Naruto was shocked to see a complex genjutsu of some sort appear in the background and create the image of a cliff being struck by waves in front of the sunset. Wow that is one strange genjutsu, he thought.

"We are going to be late for the exam you know," he said finally.

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Surprisingly they weren't late for the exam and arrived just in time.

They were informed at the entrance that the exams would be taken as a team, so they all had to be there together to enter.

Upon entering the exam chamber they were instantly set upon by a terrifying banshee.

"SASUKE-KUN," screamed the blond haired fangirl as she jumped onto the brooder.

She was shocked to realize a moment later that she was instead hugging a very pissed off pink-haired girl with an overly large forehead.

"Get off me Ino-pig!"

"GAH!"

"Hey there you guys are, I guess you're in the exam too." Team seven looked up to see the rest of the rooky 9 coming towards them, the one who had spoken was Inuzuka Kiba.

"You should be quieter, you are attracting too much attention to yourselves, there are many teams here and many of them would do anything to be the last team standing," Said a young man with silver hair, as he walked towards the rookies. "You are in luck though as I am willing to help you out, my name is Kabuto, I'm a veteran to these tests, and I have a special edge this year."

Naruto had separated from the group before the noise even began and was slowly walking towards the other end of the room in a relaxed manner as he surveyed the competition.

"You have taken these tests before?"

"This is my seventh time."

"So you mean to say that you suck."

"Yes, I suppose so, but this year I have my information cards on every ninja in the exam, would you like to see them?"

Sasuke stepped foreword. "show me Gaara, Rock Lee, and Uzumaki Naruto."

"hmm, alright, Sabaku no Gaara, the youngest child of the yondaime Kazekage, not much is known about his abilities but he has gone on 20 C-rank, 10 B-rank and even an A-rank mission. The scariest thing is that he has never been injured while on a mission."

The nearby Genin looked nervous, not many people could go on a B-rank without injury but no-one could avoid injury all together on an A-rank.

"Now, Rock Lee is also interesting, he is unable to use Genjutsu and Ninjutsu but makes up for it with his taijutsu. He has been on 30 D-rank, and 5 C-rank missions with his team." The boy continued. "Ok, here is Uzumaki…you requested your own teammate, hmm, I would expect you to know more about him than I do, but here it is, his overall skills are a mystery but he is considered a ninjutsu specialist, he has gone on 10 D-rank missions and 1 C-rank with his team, and…I guess this explains why you don't know much about him, he has finished 40 D-rank, 6 B-rank, and 8 A-rank missions alone with no back up, he has never failed a mission and there are rumors that he has returned from all his missions without a single scar. He is slowly becoming known throughout the world as Shinkukaen no Naruto; he is in the bingo book of cloud country and is considered highly dangerous."

Everyone in hearing distance was staring at Naruto in shock, this kid was considered a threat by another village, not just that but one of the big five villages that ruled the shinobi world.

"That is the, oh so scary Shinkukaen no Naruto that they talk about so much back home? No way, he is just a brat! Let's show him what it means to mess with the cloud!"

With these words a trio of cloud Genin jumped at the blond-haired Jinchuriki, to their doom.

As they came towards him Naruto pulled out three senbon needles from one of the pockets on his grey cargo pants and threw them at his attackers in one fluid motion. Two of the three Genin were hit in the neck and fell down unconscious while the third dodged the projectile and launched a kunai, Naruto caught the Kunai and spun around in one fluid motion dodging the follow up attack. Just as this was happening there was a large explosion of smoke and the examiners arrived.

"There will be no fighting unless the examiner allows it." Said the scar covered man leading the group.

"I apologies, Ibiki-san, the two I hit are alright they are simply unconscious, though I would like my senbon back."

The man looked from the relaxed-looking boy to the two Genin lying on the ground and at the remaining cloud Genin from that team. "this is your final warning, there will be no rule-breaking allowed."

"What if that means abandoning a comrade?"

"What if it does?"

"Those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum."

"You are Kakashi's student I take it." The examiner deadpanned.

"I am on his team, though he has yet to actually teach me anything."

"Alright everyone take your seats, not you," he said pointing to the boy from cloud and his now awakening comrades, "you are disqualified for attacking another examinee outside of exam rules, get out."

"WHAT? I'll get you for this Uzumaki!"

"You don't have to yell, I'm right here," Naruto said standing directly behind the boy, the tip of sharp metal object held against his back. "You dropped your kunai."

He gave the boy the sharp object, it was his kunai, or at least part of it, he had snapped it in half.

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This was ridiculous, there was no way he could answer these questions, no Genin could, well…maybe Shikamaru or Sakura. So what was the point, in the life of a ninja there is no such thing as an impossible task, so what was the trick?

Then it hit him, we only loose points if we get caught cheating, in the field a ninja may need to gather information for his village or client, without getting caught.

That's it! We are supposed to cheat without being spotted. So how am I supposed to do that, spying is one of my weakest skills, normally I would get Haku to do it for me and give me the answer…s, THAT'S IT!

Naruto sighed, this was a difficult trick he had designed for infiltration purposes, it was based on an explosive tag but it didn't explode, it did something else…it was perfect.

'I am so glad I took senbon throwing lessons from Haku-san.'

With that Naruto discreetly pulled out a special paper with a strange group of symbols and wrapped it around a senbon. He slipped the senbon into his hand and with a flick of his wrist launched it into the rafters not far from a very high-up window.

As the senbon struck the wall and got lodged, (he had put enough chakra into that throw to pierce solid stone) the note unrolled and in a puff of smoke a Kage Bushin appeared, it quickly hid and pulled a second note from under the first and tied that around the senbon and taking aim. He threw the senbon out of the slightly open window and proofed out of existence. Some of the examiners noticed this and grew confused, why did he do that?

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out side the window a chunin who had been assigned to watch the exam from outside to prevent anyone from helping the Genin saw a senbon leave the window and land in a bush, as he went to retrieve it, there was a large puff of smoke and twenty forms appeared around him looking like vague ninja wearing konoha hitai-ate. The man was startled, where did they come from, but before he could do anything they were gone with incredible speed. Wow, that was weird; I should tell Hokage-sama.

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A few minutes later in the village's ninja-library:

Iruka was walking past an isle when he spotted himself sitting in the middle of the floor greatly absorbed in paperwork. What was that, I never do my work at the library…wait I'm me, so who was that?

"Hey you! Why are you henged to look like me?" he practically yelled.

"Shh, quiet Iruka-kun it's me," the man puffed into smoke and turned into Kakashi, "I don't have a very good reputation with the librarians, and I needed to do some work on a confidential topic, sorry."

"May I ask…?"

"You may ask, and I may not answer."

"I see, just try to not ruin my reputation to much."

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In the Hokage's office:

"Ojiisan, can you help me with to answer this problem?" the elderly Hokage was shocked beyond words to see the complex mathematical equation that Konohamaru had just come to him with.

True to his name as the Professor he helped the boy learn the problem and how to solve it, after the boy had left Kakashi stepped in to the office through the window. "you know that was Naruto in disguise right?"

"It was an impressive disguise; it took me several minutes to realize that Konohamaru was planning to spend the entire day practicing stealth techniques."

"Hmm, he is quite clever to have done it this way, he sends clones to learn information and bring it back to him. He only asked you one of the questions so you had wouldn't realize that you were giving him answer for the first exam."

Just then Iruka arrived and stared at Kakashi for a minute, "how did you get here so fast? I just saw you in the library."

Before the two men could answer they were interrupted by a chunin from the exam entering the room with news of a group of unidentified ninja appearing near the exam room.

Kakashi could barely contain laughter as he explained the method that Naruto was using. "Some student has used shadow clones to gather information for him; he or she has sent clones in disguise around town to gather answers for the questions. I suppose there are two clones per question."

"But how is he going to get the answers? He would have to signal himself."

"Actually, shadow clones pass anything they learn to their creator after they are dispelled."

The four ninja stood and considered the level of planning behind this strategy, this kid really deserved to pass.

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in the exam room, Naruto noticed an odd coincidence, he was sitting directly beside a girl from his academy class, Hinata. She kept looking over at him quietly as though afraid that he might actually notice her.

He paused and thought about what he knew of her, it wasn't much.

She was a Hyuuga, one of the most powerful clans in konoha.

She was very shy, which was an uncommon trait for a Hyuuga.

She was the heiress of the clan but was not very popular with her clan.

She smelled strongly of pheromones whenever he was nearby.

"…_wait…Pheromones? Does she…does she…like me? That's not possible, she is wealthy and powerful, her family would never allow it, and we have nothing in common, right?"_

The more he thought about it the more it made sense, she was interested in him, but was too shy to say it, a crush. Well at least she wasn't as bad as Sasugay's fangirls.

"…Ano…Naruto-kun, do you need some help with the exam, I could let you copy…" she said so quietly that if not for his increased sense of hearing he wouldn't have noticed.

"Its ok, Hinata-chan" he whispered quietly, "I have it under control."

Just as he finished saying this he received the knowledge from one of his clones and quickly answered one of the questions.

As the examiners and Hinata watched in interest and confusion, Naruto wrote down one answer to an apparently random question and drifted off, and then with no warning he suddenly jumped slightly with an enlightened look of his face and answered another. This continued for several minutes until the first 9 questions were finished.

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It had taken twelve clones to actually get all the answers fully completed and that left eight clones and one question left. So what should the clones do for the last twenty minutes until the last question is given? What would Naruto do to pass the time?

PRANKING TIME!!!

One of the clones disguised as Kakashi went into the first bookstore he found, he made a bee line for the children's section and found a big pink children's book that he proceeded to reading, in full view of the window. Kakashi's rep would never recover.

Another clone took the form of Iruka and walked briskly towards the Hot springs this would be entertaining.

Still another clone chose the appearance of the strange man in the green spandex and went to a men's clothing store to try on suits.

"This would be amusing. Now what should I do," thought the real Naruto. "Oh, I know!"

Soon another three teams were disqualified as Naruto's senbon hit a mirror hanging from the ceiling causing it to reflect light directly into an examiners eye. Another shadow clone appeared in the rafters from the tag Naruto had thrown up there earlier. The clone changed to look like a random ninja with no village affiliation and his entire face covered then began to move through the rafters with great stealth until he found a spy camera. One of the Genin cursed loudly as his camera was made useless by some mysterious ninja who painted over the lens with ink.

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Soon the forty five minutes were up and the head examiner stood and told the Genin to chose whether or not they wanted to take the last question and risk staying a Genin forever.

After several teams surrendered he asked again, "is there anyone else who wants to quit while they're ahead?"

Naruto couldn't help it, he snorted loudly, this was all way too funny.

"How about you number 42"

"You know…this is actually quite funny, last time I was given this kind of choice it wasn't my promotion at stake…it was my life. Can you guess what I picked?" Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as he said it.

"I would guess that you chose to live," Answered the examiner as though it was obvious.

"Then you aren't qualified to judge this exam. I chose to complete my mission, they say that if you don't try you can't fail but really if you don't try then you have already failed."

"Hmm, an interesting way of looking at it, so is there anyone who still wants to quit?"

No one answered.

"Then you all pass."

Just then a large object broke through the window. There was a loud yelp of pain and a thud as the ninja that came out of the orb of cloth got struck by something partway through.

"Listen up -ow- kiddies I am, -ow- the examiner for the second -ow- exam -ow- Mitarashi Anko!"

"So does that mean you are not a hostile attacker?" a certain blond haired boy deadpanned.

"No, I'm not."

"Oh…so can I have my kunai back?"

The odd woman reached behind her and with a pained grunt and a hard tug pulled a kunai out.

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**So do you like it, the exams have begun and Naruto is going to own all.**

**Don't forget to vote on the poll at the beginning of this page.**

**I have been working on deciding who Naruto will recruit for his organization in the future. I would like some ideas on who they should be and what kind of history they would have.**

**I have already decided about several already existent characters and I am mostly looking for original ideas.**

**If you have some ideas about new characters that would make good additions to the DRAGON'S TEATH please don't hesitate to send me suggestions.**

**Please note I am always looking for constructive criticism on my writing but please try not to send me emails filled with nonstop insults and swearwords**_**. (Like the review by "**__Twizzer"__** by the way this review is for chapter 2 and is highly insulting and annoying)**_


	12. The Forest of Death

**True Jinchuriki**

**The Forest Of Death**

**Disclaimer: as you most likely realize by now, I don't own Naruto, if you think I own Naruto then you are an idiot, I WOULD NEVER MAKE MY MAIN CHARACTER SUCH A MORON! And there isn't nearly enough Sasuke-kicking in the regular manga.**

**So far the polls read**

**Dragons: 7**

**Foxes: 9**

**Wolves: 3**

**Toads: 1** (some have said that it should be his second summon, but I as the author have decided that you can only have one contract unless it's a bloodline trait. )

**Personally I like dragons as his summon, because:**

**Foxes are overused, toads are just not right somehow, and wolves … well actually I was originally going to go with wolves but dragons are cooler.**

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"Listen up -ow- kiddies I am, -ow- the examiner for the second -ow- exam -ow- Mitarashi Anko!"

"So does that mean you are not a hostile attacker?" a certain blond haired boy deadpanned.

"No, I'm not."

"Oh…so can I have my kunai back?"

The odd woman reached behind her and with a pained grunt and a hard tug pulled a kunai out.

"So you're the wise guy who threw this at me!"

"You burst through the window during a _NINJA exam_ and we were not informed as to what the exam will be so for all I know it might have something to do with testing our reflexes."

"I see." With that she whipped the kunai straight at Naruto's face.

He didn't even flinch as the kunai cut a tiny scratch on his cheek. To the shock of everyone on that side of him, the wound closed almost as quickly as it appeared.

"Thank you." He said as he picked the kunai from the desk behind him, as though nothing had happened.

The strange woman's face twisted into a maniacal smirk, "maybe there is some hope for this lot after all." She muttered under her breath, "or maybe not," she finished with a sweatdrop as she saw the horrified Genin staring at Naruto.

"Alright meet me tomorrow at the location your jonin instructors will give you tomorrow, don't be late."

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"NARUTO! What did you do?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about Kakashi-sensei?"

"You ruined my reputation; it took me years to cultivate that reputation!"

"Huh? Oh hi Iruka-senpai, what happened to your face?"

"I was suddenly set upon by a large number of angry (and wet) kunoichi while I was marking papers for my class. You wouldn't have any connection to this would you?"

"How could I? I was taking the exam all day." He answered thoughtfully, "or did this happen yesterday?"

Before Iruka could answer he was interrupted by a boy and his dog, "wait, how could you not know if it happened today or yesterday? We all saw Iruka-sensei yesterday night."

Iruka looked over at Kiba, "that was to test whether or not you were ready to take the exam; just to make me certain that you were strong enough. I already know that Naruto is more than good enough to do be a chunin."

Kiba and his teammates just looked at Iruka and Naruto in surprise, "so you weren't sure that we were ready enough but you have complete confidence in the dead last of our class?"

"There is one difference between me and you. You showed your true abilities in the academy."

"Actually, Kiba-kun…Naruto's final marks weren't at the bottom of the class, they were higher than several students, after that is Naruto got a perfect score on the final Genin exam."

The surrounding konoha ninja stared at him in surprise (no one had ever gotten a perfect score) as he continued, "Naruto's marks throughout the term ranged from 1 to 13 until the exam which bumped the final grade to 57 technically, the lowest mark was 54"

The observers were left speechless.

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"Welcome to the forest of death, this will be the location for the next exam."

"So… we are supposed to go in there?" asked Sakura with a nervous look on her face.

"Don't worry fangirl I wont let anything kill you; I have a feeling that if one of my teammates dies I will probably get disqualified." Naruto said with a cheery grin.

"Alright, first things first, I need you all to sign a consent form," the examiner stated, "From this point on people will be dieing."

As the forms were passed out she continued, "this is a map of the region," she held up a map of the region "in this limited area you will be doing a special anything goes survival test, you will be competing for these scrolls."

She explained the rules further but the moment Naruto heard the words anything goes his face twisted into a maniacal grin that sent shivers down everyone's spines. This was going to get interesting.

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"I'll be back in a moment; I need to…relieve myself."

Moments after he left, Naruto reappeared, saying "man, I must have peed two liters!"

As Sakura began to berate him about being rude, Sasuke struck.

His fist connected with Naruto's face and sent him into a tree, Sasuke followed with a kick that lifted his opponent off of the ground.

As Naruto landed he cried out, "what the hell was that you bastard!"

"You aren't a very good judge of character, the real Naruto may act like a clown at times but he wouldn't have behaved like that, also he didn't actually go to pee. For that mater your holster is on the wrong side."

"Oh you are good." Said the ninja as he dispelled the henge,

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Meanwhile a short distance away

Naruto landed on a tree branch, he was wearing his grey cargo pants and a black shirt with a spiral design on the front. His hitai-ate was tied around his forehead to keep the hair out of his eyes and he wore an orange jacket with no sleeves.

He stopped and discreetly moved the hem of his jacket away from the hilt of his sword.

As he jumped down onto the ground, four teams of cloud ninja came out from hiding, "so, you are the infamous Shinkukaen, I'm disappointed, you're just some kid." One of the cloud-nin said.

"And that is why you need twelve people to take me down?"

He went through several hand signs and smashed his hands into the ground. Spikes of stone exploded from the ground all around him, impaling five of the kumo-nin.

One of those that dodged threw a kunai at the blond, but he sprung from the ground into the air bringing his knees to his chest and doing hand signs in mid air, as he landed Naruto launched his hands out to his sides.

A wave of wind roared outwards in all directions knocking his attackers into the trees and rocks around them. Before they could recover he was moving, he made sure that most were unconscious and quickly disabled those that were not.

After tying them up, he searched through their belongings for some scrolls.

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Shikamaru dived into the bushes pulling his teammates after him, a team of foreign ninja arrived on the scene moments later.

The group looked around, they were about to leave when an orange blur descended upon them.

This blur was quickly identified as painful-death incarnate.

After landing on the head of one of the ninja, and in so doing snapping his scrawny neck Naruto stabbed the other two in the sides with kunai and proceeded to punch them each several times until they fell.

From their hiding place, team ten watched as their intended target made short work of three older shinobi.

After retrieving the scroll from the one he had stepped on, Naruto paused and looked at the potato chip in the forest floor. He looked around and his eye landed on the bush.

The three Genin tensed. "Hi Choji-san, Shikamaru-san, and you too fangirl number two."

"It's been a while Naruto-san, shouldn't you be with your team?"

"I had a bunch of kumo shinobi chasing me, so I led them away from the others, I'm sure Sasugay-kun can handle things until I get back."

"Hmm, I see, there are some dangerous people in this exam, your teem might need you."

"True…"he paused "good luck, look for those three rock ninja who wear a lot of metal spikes, they should be easy prey."

With that he left.

Choji and Ino just stared after him with open mouths; Choji absentmindedly continued to eat his chips.

"Well we had better get moving, you heard what he said."

"Wait what? What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"We need to scout out that team he mentioned. It's obvious that we can't continue that plan to target Naruto's team, considering how strong he has gotten." He answered bluntly.

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"Damn, where the hell did they go? Looks like there was a big fight here some time ago, I'd better go find them and make sure they're alright. Seriously I can't leave them for a second." Naruto muttered as he looked around the wrecked area for any sign of his team.

"Where could they have gone? I was only gone for a little while, and they managed to get themselves into trouble already." He stopped. "Well… what have we here?" he frowned and crouched down to examine the markings, "someone is trying to avoid being followed, but they aren't very good at it, Sasuke may be arrogant but even he is better than this. That leaves only one person, Sakura. Damn by the looks of things, Sasuke's been disabled and he's being looked after by a pathetic fangirl, crap,crap,crap!" with these words he was off, running like the wind.

Then he stopped. "This is going to be harder than expected, I can't follow this trail to fast, and I will have to stay on the ground, it'll take me hours to find them." He sighed, "Note to self, get Haku to teach me how to track people better."

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"I will protect you until I die!"

"What, but aren't we supposed to be enemies right now?"

"I said before didn't I, I will protect you."

"Hey, who the hell are you?" yelled the bandage wrapped sound ninja.

"I am the beautiful green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!"

As the bandage covered ninja attacked, lee plunged his hand into the ground and pulled out a massive tree root to block the attack

"There is some trick to your attack, I've seen it before." He began to unwrap the bandages around his hands.

"That time is now Gai-sensei. Time to protect a precious person!" he burst into motion, leaving the visible spectrum.

He planted a kick on his opponents chin and followed with shadow of the dancing leaf, "I'm not done yet." His bandages began to wrap around the stunned sound ninja.

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As he arrived, Naruto saw Lee fall, this was bad. He was in a tree not far away looking at the scene.

He watched mesmerized as Sakura and team ten put up a valiant fight against much stronger foes but they were not going to win.

Completely ignoring the deadly chakra that began to pour from the downed Uchiha he charged, calling every bit of speed that he could into one attack.

"**KIIRODENKOU!**" (Yellow lightning: it's kind of like the dynamic entry)

The mummy boy from sound was just about to attack the assembled konoha Nins when he suddenly had to jump to avoid a golden streak that smashed into the ground where he had just been standing.

As the dust cleared, the Genin were left staring at Naruto, balanced on one fist, upside down, in a crater the size an elephant.

He flexed his arm for a moment then pushed himself straight up into the air, flipping himself over onto his feet, "don't tell me you were going to have a party without me." He said with a cheeky grin.

"Naruto-san, where were you! Your youthful teammates required your aid and you abandoned them!"

"Yes that's right, I should have stayed with the team and let the four teams that were following me join up with whoever attacked them. How foolish of me, I could have destroyed them on my own and save my team from having to fight such an overwhelming number of enemies."

"I see, in that case I apologies."

"Don't, I was being serious about the last part." He deadpanned.

"Ha! You think you could take on Orochimaru-sama? I'll show this clown a lesson, he may be fast but my attacks are even faster," Said the spiky haired sound Genin as he stepped forward to attack the new arrival.

Before anyone could react Naruto vanished, and reappeared with his fist in the boy's gut. He pulled back his hand and brought his foot up above the head of his doubled-over opponent. A powerful axe kick smashed the sound ninja's face into the ground just as Sasuke was waking up.

"What happened here?"

"SASUKE-KUN! YOU'RE AWAKE!"

"Oh, you woke up; well if you had woken up a few moments earlier I wouldn't have to fight your battles for you," was the comment from his male teammate.

"What the hell do you mean by that dobe?"

"These guys were sent to kill you, and since you were unconscious, Sakura had to fight them. You know perfectly well that she's useless in a fight! It's just a good thing I got here in time."

"So they are the ones who did that to Sakura," Naruto paused as he saw the strange markings spreading across the Uchiha's face.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme, what the fuck happened to you, your chakra has changed, and it feels…like…mine…" Naruto's eyes grew wide as realization dawned on him, "oh fuck, EVERYONE DOWN, GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

As the konoha nins looked on in horror, their precious Uchiha mercilessly attacked the sound ninja's, the boy that Naruto had hit was just getting back up when his shoulder was hit with enough force to shatter the bone and throw him into a tree some distance away.

As he continued his rampage he was stopped by his teammate, "calm down Uchiha, you can't let the rage control you, I know how it feels but you mustn't give in."

"you know nothing dobe, I have more power than ever before, I have been given a gift and I will wield it to destroy all who stand in my way!"

"That power is not your own, it is a corruption that will eat away at your very soul until there is nothing left! In the end it will destroy you! If you give in then you will eventually betray us all and be consumed by hatred!"

He had listened enough, this fool was trying to make him give up his power, he was scared that he was going to be defeated, he was afraid of this new power that Sasuke had been given. No, he would not be allowed to get in the way.

The class genius charged at his teammate, Sharingan spinning and dark energy swirling around him. But he was stopped, the dark chakra was thrown aside like so much useless trash, and his eyes could barely follow the movements of Naruto's hands as he struck with inhuman speed, and strength. His fists struck hard against Sasuke's stomach, chest and jaw, several times finally ending with a roundhouse kick that sent him flying headfirst into a tree.

"Sasuke-kun, please stop, please." He froze; there was a girl with short pink hair hugging him from behind.

Naruto sighed as he watched the marks recede. He turned his attention to the last standing sound ninja, the leader.

"Look, we are beaten, just take our scroll and let us leave." The mummy boy said in a pleading tone of voice.

"Scram"

The sound trio was gone.

"Hey, guys…thank for risking your necks for my teammates, I'd pay you back but…" he paused as though hit with a sudden stroke of brilliance, "say, what scrolls do you guys have?"

Team ten and the newly arrived team Gai just stared at him oddly, "why do you want to know?" Neji seamed to be the only person brave enough to speak.

"Well…I happen to have gathered three sets of scrolls…well actually I have two earth and four heaven scrolls, so…" he just drifted off.

"We can get our own, lee will be fine in a couple of hours and we just have to find a team to defeat." The Hyuuga would not accept handouts.

"We have an earth scroll, thanks."

"Shikamaru! What do you think you're doing?"

"As I said before, there are no teams here who are weaker than us and it would be troublesome to try and find one." The lazy genius strikes again.

"Please relax Ino-san, a ninja takes advantage of any opportunity and my offer is in no way an insult to your skills it is just payment for your help." He sad calmly, "it is your choice to not accept it Hyuuga-senpai, however your teammate risked quite a bit to help my team, I feel it is our duty to repay him somehow. The only other thing I can think of at this time is for Sakura-chan to go on a date with him for saving her life."

The aforementioned pink haired girl just stared at her teammate in shock, was he just using her as a prize of some sort. "I am not a trophy you Baka!"

He ignored her, "I'm sure I can find some way to convince her, like that time I got all the girls in our class to wear short skirts by spreading a rumor that Sasuke liked being able to see a girls legs." He said ignoring the looks he was getting from his classmates.

"Naruto-san, you are my hero." A certain big-boned ninja stated in a reverent tone.

This cost him some very angry stares from two kunoichi and Sasuke.

"So you're the reason that seventeen girls flashed me in one day."

"It was unintentional; I had a bet with the Hokage that I could use my prinking skills for good. After that incident nearly all the boys in the class started working harder and attendance improved."

Cue mass sweatdrop.

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"It's just through here, k just one moment." Naruto preformed a series or hand signs and bit his thumb, and then he pressed the blood to a reasonably flat part or the cliff face.

A mild rumbling shook the area as a door came into view directly in front of him.

"Good its still here." He opened the door with another group of hand signs. "Come on, I have medical supplies and emergency food rations in here."

Sakura and Sasuke just followed him cautiously as he lead them into a smooth tunnel into the mountain, ahead there was a door and a staircase going down. He went down the stairs and motioned for the other two to follow, "welcome to my training camp, it's also stocked as a bunker in case I have to hide out from someone; there are even a bunch of escape passages."

"You have a secret house in the forest of death, why?"

"Unlike you, Uchiha I was never very popular with the villagers, they even tried to kill me on a regular basis so after I started my training I decided to find a place I could go to train in peace. All the other training grounds had people who used them and always kicked me out, except this one guy in green spandex who was just kind of creepy. Then I found this forest, the perfect place for me. The villagers always called me a demon so I thought what better place for a demon to live than in the most intimidating place in town."

"So you built this place?"

"That's right Sakura-san; I used it as a training exercise for Doton Jutsu."

"So this is why you're so at home in this forest, you actually live here. Hmm, it would explain why your apartment looks like it hasn't been used in years. Does anyone else know about this?"

"Just Zabuza-san and Haku-san, they are actually living with me currently but they left for the duration of this test."

"THOSE TWO ARE LIVING HERE WITH YOU?" The pink haired kunoichi cried.

"It's quite big; we have a lot of rooms and everything."

"Isn't going to your house cheating?"

"A ninja uses everything at their disposal when on a mission; we have a safe house with medical supplies."

"So you think the examiners won't care?"

"We just need to treat your wounds and then we are off to the tower, its not like we spent the entire test in a hidden bunker. We completed the mission, that's all that matters."

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The third day into the exam:

"Well, there is the tower, just a few miles away. We can get to it just after we get out of this Genjutsu, can you see the people using it Sasuke-san?"

"Three of them, in the trees."

"I know that, but where exactly are they?"

"What, cant you find them yourself dobe?"

"I could but it would take longer and they might get away. So where are they?"

"Ten meters to the left, in the top branches of that big oak."

"Sigh, all the oaks are big teme." He said as he started doing hand signs, "this should teach them." He grinned maniacally as he finished the hand signs.

There was a massive explosion from the tree that Sasuke had pointed out. "Bakuretsu bushin no jutsu."

The trio continued on their path, Sakura was revaluating her life, Sasuke was seething in hatred, and Naruto was happily dreaming of the day he became a chunin and no longer had to work on the same team as these two losers.

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**Sorry it took me so long to make this most recent update, I had a lot of trouble coming up with a way to still give Sasuke the seal, without having Naruto kick Orochimaru's ass all the way to Kazakhstan. If this latest chapter seams worse than the previous ones, please don't take this as a drop in the quality of my work.**

**Please keep voting on what you think Naruto's summons should be.**

**Foxes, Dragons or wolves oh my!** (Or toads but they seam to be out of the running currently)

**In case my reviewers haven't noticed, I try to answer most of my reviews if they are interesting, and I usually try to answer any questions that you ask, please feel free to ask me questions or just tell me what you think, constructive criticism is appreciated.**


	13. gaiden

**True jinchuriki, filler chapter**

**This used to be an authors note**

**Naruto: gaiden**

**The trapped hallway**

Naruto walked through the doorway. It was his fifth A rank mission.

Without any further ado he was forced to dive foreword to evade a falling blade that nearly sliced him in half. The walls he passed launched a massive amount of arrows and the floor bellow fell into a pit.

"Why the hell did I take this mission?" he used kawarimi to evade the traps and carefully slide across the ceiling, "oh yeah, it pays well." He dodged a swinging axe blade.

As massive gout of fire shot from the wall, he jumped back and into a spike trap. He caught himself millimeters from being skewered and carefully navigated out of the small forest of spikes.

Around the next corner there were a set of turning gears and a superheated floor. He sighed, "Wow, how clever, how I could ever get through all that? Hmm I don't know, maybe, **Onitsume!"** he ripped the right gear out of its socket with his charka claws and walked along the wall to the other side.

"Oh, a fork in the road." He said thoughtfully.

Creating three kagebushin and sending them down the three hallways, he sat to wait. He didn't have to wait long. On the right the hallway was blocked and then the trapped area was filled with acid. A few minutes after the other clone was destroyed, the central hallway was suddenly filled with poison darts, as the clone dodged the needles he was caught in a massive metal dragon head that rose from the floor and crushed the clone in its jaws.

Naruto smirked, so it's the left one. Then the last clone vanished.

Naruto froze, "no way, a dead end?" he ran down the left hallway.

In front of him was a massive stone wall, no way around.

He paused, "maybe a hidden switch? Or a concealed door? Maybe a password?"

He searched the area thoroughly, finally he found something. "Hah, a coin, and it took me only three hours…I'M GONNA KILL THOSE ARCHEOLOGISTS!"

He spun and kicked the wall with a charka enhanced foot. The wall crumbled to rubble.

On the other side was a large room, full of gold.

"Well, that was unexpected," he paused; I think that was too easy. He took a small step forward.

The floor tipped and began to roll over.

"SHIT!" he screamed as he jumped back t avoid falling into a pit.

Before his eyes the gold tipped and slid down into the hole.

As he starred dumbly he saw a door barely visible in the wall, it could only be accessed when the floor was tipped a certain amount.

Quickly he ran down the wall and to the door, kicking it open he went in.

One final hallway, that's all. He began to walk forward, but stopped, there were strange statues on both sides, perfectly lined up.

He made a clone and sent it forward. Instantly a rapidly spinning bladed disk flew from the mouth of one dragon statue to the one on the other side of the hall, slicing the clone in half.

He sighed; this was too annoying; he gathered his charka and dived into the center of the traps. As the blades came he spun quickly, generating blades of red charka all around himself, which sliced the offending traps into scrap metal and stone ruble.

Finally he came to the end of the hall, finally, according to his senses this was the last obstacle. He opened the door.

"It's locked…it's locked…it's…locked?" he broke down and fell to the floor crying, "After all that! They locked the door! What kind of monsters were these ancient people?"

Finally after ten minutes of yelling at the offending door he stood up and walked to the door. "Now I wish I had lock picks…or knew how to use them. Oh well, can't have everything." He took the handle and gathered charka in his arms; with a mighty tug he ripped the door out off its hinges.

Inside was a staircase.

Well, now I just got to find a way for the archeologists to get down here… or take the treasure out myself. He thought to himself as he walked down the stairs.

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this is here to take the place of an authors note, that was here before. So yeah.


	14. The preliminaries of pain and humiliati

**True Jinchuriki**

**The preliminaries of pain (and humiliation)**

**Poll results so far**

**(This is your last chance to vote)**

**Dragons 25**

**Foxes 18**

**Wolves 6**

**Toads 4**

**Dragons are winning even with some opposition from voters it seams that dragons will win.**

**Just to clarify, I'm allowing the readers to vote for the four top suggestions that I have received so far, personally I don't care who wins.**

**Any one of the summons would be a good choice, but I would like to clarify that Zabuza, Haku, and Hinata will most likely have the same summon contract as Naruto.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any anime, just to clarify. If you think that I own Naruto then you should have your head examined. **

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"Naruto, I take it that you are the one who destroyed those four teams of Kumogakure ninja's in the forest."

"Hai, Sarutobi-oyaji is that a problem?"

"No, not quite however several members of the council seem to think that the demon is fully taking control of you, because apparently you aren't strong enough to kill twelve Genin."

Naruto snorted loudly, "if it was the Uchiha who did it they would be hailing him as a protégée but since it's me they think I had to use demonic power to do it."

"You didn't?"

"If they were chunin or jonin I might have considered it, but against Genin, that would be overkill."

"then I must say I am surprised, you are stronger than I anticipated, even your jonin instructor would have had some trouble killing so many Genin at once, he could of course but he is a former Anbu captain. It's I shame you don't intend to stay as a konoha ninja permanently, at this rate you would be strong enough to become Hokage in a couple years."

"you know that I can't do that, this village is filled with to much prejudice and corruption, I need to find a place that will accept outcasts from all sorts of terrible backgrounds, I need a place where people will look past their first impression and judge people by their behavior not by their appearance or the stories they are told about them. I need a true sanctuary." He said with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Your father would be proud of you Naruto; I only wish he could be here to see you grow up." The old man had tears in his eyes, _'Minato, why didn't you let me take your place.'_

_--Flashback--_

"_Minato please, let me take your place, don't rob your child of his father." The elderly Hokage was practically begging, "Please, his life will be hard enough without also being an orphan."_

"_No old man, I am the Hokage of Konoha, I wont let any man sacrifice himself for this, it is my stupid idea, and I refuse to let anyone but myself do this." He turned towards the door._

"_Minatoi, Wait!"_

_The blond man turned to his long time friend, "remember what I told you, when he is old enough, tell him…tell him everything." His voice sounded choked._

_The Sandaime was greeted by a sight that he never thought he would ever see, his successor, the most confident man he had ever known, a man who feared no creature whether mortal or not had tears in his eyes, "tell him I…I'm sorry."_

_--End flashback--_

"Naruto, your father had many things to tell you, but most importantly, he wanted you to know that he was sorry."

"I'd be more surprised if he wasn't," he turned and began to walk away.

"Naruto, I hope you realize that you are not alone in this village, there are still those that care about you. If nothing else, I have always seen you like my own grandson, and Konohamaru has already taken to calling you Oniisan, just remember that there are those who care about you here."

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Naruto woke up early, the next exam was today, and he grinned.

He quickly did some hand signs and he felt the demonic chakra in his body move to his respiratory system, he then quickly released powerful airborne sleeping poison into the air. Time to get busy.

All the teams had rooms with their teammates, three cots spread around a square room.

He summoned some clones and had them lift Sakura and place her in the same bed as Sasuke; he set a camera in a shadowed corner and organized the sheets to be as tangled as possible then satisfied with his work he left the room but not before hiding his teammates' shoes.

Next room

"Hmm, team ten…how should I go about this."

He allowed the poison to fill the air and proceeded to replace most of Ino's make up with sneezing powder and hid Choji's potato chips then replaced them with carrot sticks.

He got an alarm clock and hid it under Shikamaru's bed then added super strong caffeine pills to his drink bottle.

Next room

"Team eight, harder…Shino is immune to poison and Kiba would smell it, how should I…Mizu bushin," he nearly yelled as inspiration struck him

Three minutes later a group of water clones were performing different pranks in team eight's room.

He stopped in front of the room of team Gai.

He rigged a bucket or ice water to splash down onto the person who left first, it would be enough.

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Something smelled like roses, strongly. And there was something soft and silky in his face, he felt curves, not big curves but they were curves, something seamed familiar.

The last Uchiha cracked open an eye, a sea of pink strands was in front of his face.

…wait, pink strands?

"AAACK! SAKURA"

"Hmm, what's wrong Sasuke-kun I'm trying to sleep?"

She stopped, and looked up at the horrified face of her crush; she felt a hand on her hip, and another…

"EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAKK!" a scream echoed throughout the tower.

The two tried to spring apart but only succeeded in getting more tangled, ending up in some very suggestive positions, much to the Uchiha's dismay.

Finally after several attempts they both fell out of bed with a loud thump.

After some embarrassed searching they found their shoes and cloths, (they were not naked, and they were just in pajamas and couldn't find their regular outfits.)

As they left the room, very red faced they were met by complete chaos, Ino was sneezing uncontrollably and could barely walk, while Shikamaru was twitching violently and Choji was crying over his lack of snacks. A little way down Kiba was trying to get a muzzle off of his face, and Shino was buzzing loudly and covered in bugs while farther down the hall lee was blocking the door to his room while doing a complex work out routine and yelling about the springtime of youth at the top of his voice.

As they went past team eight's room they herd a strange startled sound and a quiet thump.

"Meep" Thump

There it was again, they looked in and where met by a sight of Hinata, still in her pajama's lying in bed, surrounded on all sides by pictures of Naruto working out, smiling, or in one case swimming with his shirt of.

As they watched she woke up, saw a picture and fainted with a meep sound.

Lee's teammates were standing just inside his room looking tired and very cranky, and in the case of Tenten, in great need of a bathroom.

Farther down the hall someone had rigged a complex trap.

A high power, motion sensitive, pie throwing cannon.

The door was open and a very angry looking sound kunoichi was standing in the doorway, not moving, on the ground in front of her was Zaku, knocked out with a pie on his face. The mummy was lying unconscious on the ground near the door, covered in half a dozen pies.

The sand team had been left alone.

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It took nearly half an hour to snap lee out of his workout frenzy and as soon as he stopped Tenten charged at high speeds towards the nearest bathroom.

The cannon eventually ran out of ammunition and Shino took down the pictures of Naruto so that Hinata could get out of bed.

Ino had to go wash her face for ten minutes before she could breathe normally, and after she was awake, Hinata managed to find Choji's snacks.

Shikamaru and Shino were still overly jumpy, from large amounts of caffeine and sugar.

Kiba was foaming at the mouth in rage and Sasuke was secretly plotting his revenge on a certain blond.

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As the teams made it to the main room they were greeted with the sight of their jonin instructors laughing as Naruto sat with the Hokage drinking tea and talking about something they couldn't hear and gesturing at a big poster that showed Sakura, and Sasuke snuggling in bed.

The world seamed to stop, then…

"FOREHEAD GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY SASUKE KUN!"

Before the two girls could break into a fistfight, the Uchiha survivor charged at his blond teammate, "NARUTO!"

The blond barely registered his movements, without spilling his tea he spun his chair in place balancing on one leg and drove his foot into the Uchiha's gut.

"Is something wrong, Sasuke-san?" his voice was mild as though he hadn't just rammed his foot into the other boy's abdomen. He took a sip of tea.

"You, you're the one who did that!" the raven-haired boy yelled at his teammate, "you're the reason for all the chaos this morning!"

"You should real work on detecting danger; the only one who almost caught me was Shino."

"You splashed me with sugar water, it was an odd experience."

Many people looked at the bug user.

"Maa, now Sasuke, its time to start the next exam." Kakashi was still holding back laughter.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID?"

"Hai Sakura-chan, he put you in the same bed as Sasuke and filled your sandals with glue."

She stopped and looked down, "glue?"

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After seeing the jonin and even the Hokage laughing, the Genin mostly calmed down with the exception of Kiba who still wanted to shred Naruto, Sasuke who had no sense of humor, and Shikamaru who had too much caffeine in his system to be calm.

Naruto was shocked to see Shikamaru revert to his 'I'm too lazy to bother' attitude in record time and suggested to the Hokage that the Nara clam may have some strange genetic disorder that caused them to be perpetually tired.

The battles began and Sasuke defeated some strange guy who had the power to suck chakra, Kankuro fought and defeated the creepy contortionist. Tamari beat Tenten completely leaving her battered and bruised.

Lee came to help his teammate and caught her as she fell off of the fan.

Next came the battle between Lee and Gaara, it was long, fast and quite scary. As lee unlocked his gates and preformed the legendary Ura Renge technique Naruto grew nervous for the first time during this exam.

"Is something wrong Naruto-sama." He didn't even turn.

"Haku-san, you came to watch the exam? Hmm, yes I am concerned, I was hoping to try and convince Gaara into our group. If Lee manages to complete this technique properly we may lose our chance, and if he fails to pull it off right or Gaara counters, then he will die and we lose another potential member."

"Them someone must step in before one of them dies."

"It would seem so."

Nearby Zabuza was leaning against the wall reading a newspaper.

As the dust cleared Gaara was lying on a pillow of sand, his gourd had turned to sand to shield him from the final impact, but Lee on the other hand was barely able to move as sand darted towards him and grabbed his arm and leg.

The world stood still for a moment as the sand crushed the boy's limbs.

However as the sand charged towards Lee, Gai launched himself to intercept but he wasn't fast enough, as he got where he was going the sand had already been stopped.

No, stopped was the wrong word, it had exploded.

In the path of the sand stood a boy with messy blond hair, wearing a long orange coat the hem of which was torn and shredded, like it had been attacked by a shark.

As the sand got close a wave of pure force stopped it in its tracks, the boy simply turned and walked over to the injured Genin in green spandex.

Lee started to get back up but there was no light in his eyes. "Lee stop, do you continue to fight even after having succumbed to unconsciousness, truly your fires of youth burn brightly!" Gai's words were interrupted by Naruto placing a finger on the boy's forehead and pushing.

Lee fell to the ground with a thud, "seriously if you try to keep fighting you'll just do more damage to your broken bones."

He knelt down over the boy and began doing hand signs.

_--Flashback--_

"_Chikushou, why can't she be out of the hospital yet, it's been a week and she still in there."_

"_Please calm down Naruto-sama."_

"_Yeah, kid most people don't heal as fast as you do."_

"_Sometimes I wish they did, hmm actually why shouldn't they?"_

"_Huh"_

"_I just got an interesting idea."_

_--End Flashback--_

"I'm so glad that I came up with this technique." He sighed as he ran through hand signs.

"Naruto-sama, you shouldn't use that technique so liberally, as long as it is active your body won't heal damage at all, it's too dangerous to continue like this, you still have to fight soon." Haku had worry written all across his face.

"Are you sure about this Naruto?" Zabuza called down from the balcony. "It's quite a risk."

"Don't worry, there are only two people in this room who I would need my regenerative ability against, and the chances of me having to fight one of them are low."

"What exactly do you mean," the Hokage seemed genuinely curios.

"As you know, Hokage-oyaji my body heals from wounds much faster than normal people; some time ago I started developing a technique that allows me to temporarily transfer my body's ability to heal damage to other people, I've not yet perfected it, so it leaves me unable to heal at all."

As the medics carried Lee away to the hospital, Naruto went up the stairs to the balcony.

The scoreboard flashed**: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba**

"Well it looks like you made a major mistake Uzumaki 'cause you are defiantly going to need some major medical attention once I'm done with you." The dog boy whooped loudly, ignoring the looks that the jonin and most of the Genin were throwing him, looks that screamed _"you are a goner"._

"Zabuza-san, may I borrow your newspaper?"

"Take it; I can get another one in town after this exam."

"Arigato"

"Hey are you going to fight or are you too chicken!"

"Relax, I'll be there in a moment." With that Naruto simply jumped backwards over the railing at the edge of the balcony, he landed lightly on the arena floor.

"You should back out now, you were dead last in the academy and I don't care what tricks you pulled to pass the final exam."

"Faito" the proctor yelled.

In the stands a serious decision was taking place.

"I'll give him, ten minutes." Zabuza said in a serious voice.

"Five minutes,"Haku answered calmly.

"Hmm, you have a deal, the looser buys a celebratory dinner at any restaurant Naruto chooses."

"Deal"

Back in the arena

"You aren't really thinking of bringing that dog with you to this fight, he might get hurt."

"Akamaru is a specially trained ninja dog, he will be fine, but you however are a different story."

"Whatever," Naruto simply leaned on the wall and opened the newspaper.

Without warning, Kiba jumped foreword attempting to punch Naruto. Naruto however blurred into motion at the last moment and appeared behind the dog boy, "bad dog." He smacked the Genin over the head with his rolled-up newspaper.

Kiba spun around and attempted to punch again, again he felt the smack of a rolled-up newspaper on the back of his head.

Scowling he jumped away.

"Time to stop playing around." Kiba bent down, he shifted his stance and in a puff of smoke he developed clear fangs and claws. Akamaru jumped on his back and transformed into an exact replica of the dog ninja, **"GETSUGA!"**

as the spinning attack came at him Naruto raised his newspaper like a sword, as it got close enough he burst into motion, three strikes and Kiba lost his spin and fell to the ground, Akamaru charged and took a smack across the face with the newspaper throwing him across the arena.

Kiba punched, Naruto smacked him. Kiba kicked, Naruto smacked him. Kiba lunged, Naruto tripped him and began to smack him repeatedly with the rolled up newspaper.

Kiba tried to stand up but Naruto was there smacking him with his rolled up newspaper.

Naruto grinned mischievously; time to ruin his day completely. **"Kage bushin no jutsu"**

Kiba was trying to get up when he saw a puff of smoke and four more Naruto's appeared.

A muffled cry was heard all through the tower over the loud smacking sounds of five rolled up newspapers and the mighty battle cry "Bad Dog!"

It was a short battle…

A hand broke out of the circle of Naruto's, "I give up, just make it stop!"

In the stands

"Five minutes exactly, it looks like I win Zabuza-sama."

"I feel like a great weight has lifted from my wallet."

The all of the ninja in the room were laughing their heads off with the exception of Shino who doesn't laugh, Gaara who just stared at Naruto, and the two geniuses who were trying outdo each other's "I'm to angsty for my shirt" look.

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The other battles ended uneventfully (or as uneventfully as ninja fights go) with one exception.

Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji

The battle turned out as expected, a lot of palm strikes and a snobby speech about fate courtesy of Neji.

However what he didn't expect was that his opponent might try to get up.

He turned, how dare she get back up, how could she still continue to fight, his victory was promised to him by fate itself. No she was unworthy to be a member of the Hyuuga clan let alone the main house. He attacked, one palm strike and…

He never got that far; a knee hit him in the chin and threw him into the air. He flipped in midair and landed on his feet. He looked at the insolent fool who had dared to defy his judgment, that brat, the one with the blond hair that defended Lee, how could he interfere what did he know of the main houses misdeeds.

Naruto crouched down and gathered a bit of blood from the floor, he looked at his hand, "you had better hope, Hyuuga Neji, hope that you don't have to face me in the tournament. Because if you do…" he made his hand into a fist and held it out towards the Protégée allowing Hinata's blood to drip from his hand. "I will kill you."

There was no rage in those words, no emotion at all and that was what made it so unnerving, at that moment the entire room was quiet, nobody moved, everyone stood still and watched the scene in the arena.

There was a groan; Naruto was gone in an instant.

He caught the badly beaten girl as she fell, "damn it, HAKU GET OVER HERE!"

"Perhaps you should allow the villages own medics to handle this." Even while saying this he was already doing hand signs.

He completed the technique, "some serious internal damage, closed tenketsu, severe internal bleeding, first lets get these tenketsu back open." He muttered as he worked

To Neji's great shock the strange person Naruto had called over simply took out a needle and poked Hinata in three places, there was a slight release of chakra as the closed tenketsu reopened.

"How…" he never got the chance to ask as Haku was already doing hand signs again. In moments his hands were glowing green as he tried to stop the internal bleeding.

"Who's the girl?" asked a thoroughly confused Ino.

"Haku is a boy, though he doesn't look like it," barked Zabuza.

"Wow, I would never have guessed,"

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"You will have one month to train for the exam, the final part of the exam is a tournament that will be watched by the entire village and by many esteemed guests so put on a good show."

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**Well this has been difficult, I had a scene I wanted to put in but there wasn't any good place to add it.**

**Someone has written to me that I said that there would not be any romance until after the time skip. This is not exactly what I said,** (and if it is then it was a typo)** I meant to say that there would not be any romance ****until the time skip****, I intend to actually write what happens during the time skip. Before you all start telling me that Naruto is too good to go of to train with Jiraya let me make myself clear, he won't be training with Jiraya.**

**I plan on doing things quite differently after the Sasuke retrieval arc, things will begin to differ from the canon story more and more as time goes on.**

**This is your last chance to vote on summons so give me those votes. I have ruled that it is imposable to have more than one summon contract, it is a blood contract, it binds you unbreakably to the creatures being summoned and they would be pissed off if you betrayed them to get another summon.**

**I'm accepting ideas for characters to join the "dragon teeth", I have already picked most of the already existing characters who will join. I have also decided that there will be a Kaguya involved because their power is so cool.**

**It won't be Kimimaru. **

**Someone recommended that I get Itachi to join them; this is up for debate however I'm leaning away from that in this fic.**

**I have been considering my other fanfic ideas.**

**They consist of the idea I suggested before:**

**When the yondaime died a powerful clan left Konoha, but now they are back. Uchiha Sasuke died in the massacre the survivor was instead his easygoing cousin Hakurou.**

**In this idea Itachi is not the one behind the massacre and is in fact a good guy.**

**My more recent idea is kind of weird:**

**Naruto and Rock Lee were like brothers from an early age, both outcasts and both alone. The two boys have almost nothing in common except their undying determination.**

**I'm still working on the summary, but the gist is this:**

**Naruto was best friends with Lee when they were little, they end up growing up together and both become great taijutsu masters. Naruto in this idea would be very strong but not demonic, though he may be somewhat inhuman. He and lee would both be very different in this story.**

**If I do this I'm not sure if I should make them leave konoha when they are children and grow up far away and become well known or if I should have them stay in konoha and be trained by Gai.**

**Tell me what you think of my ideas, and I might actually start posting these new fanfics.**


	15. Training

**True Jinchuriki**

**Training**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, if I did this wouldn't count as a fanfic. I do however own my mind and as such my intellectual property includes the events that happen in this fanfic, unless they also happened in the original anime or manga. If you sue me I will simply show this disclaimer.**

**I am proud to say that my other fanfic has started, that is to say the first page is up. I asked some time ago whether I should actually write this idea down and I got an overwhelming response that I should, that is to say that I got five reviews that I should and no one said no.**

**Please read it and tell me whether I should continue it, so far almost no one has reviewed for it. If I don't get at least ten reviews that say that I should continue I will not continue.**

**I apologize for my lateness at updating this story; it was caused by a combination of several factors.**

**-school**

**-One of the world's most powerful writers-blocks**

**-and finally my chronic laziness.**

**I apologize but that doesn't change the fact that all my ideas are after the chunin exams, most are for after the Uchiha retrieval mission.**

**Now I ask that you not get angry at my lateness, it's here now.**

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"Oy, Kakashi-sensei, do you have any plans for this next month regarding our training?"

"Well, actually…I'm training Sasuke, he has to fight Gaara in the first match and he'll need all the help he can get."

"Alright, I suppose I can always go train with Zabuza and Haku, I'll see you in a month then."

"Bye" with those words the one eyed jounin was gone, vanished without a trace.

Across the large room, two women with red markings on their cheeks and messy hair were laughing their heads off at a boy with the same marks and messy hair.

"Five minutes," the older of the two howled, "you lasted for two minutes of being beaten with a newspaper!"

The younger one was just as loud, "bad dog!" managed to wheeze between laughs.

Naruto grinned, "they already sing of my accomplishments, and I'm not even dead yet."

He turned and began to walk towards his allies.

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"Three main courses eight appetizers and two deserts, where does he store it all," muttered a disgruntled (and broke) Zabuza Momochi.

"his metabolism is higher because of his superior regeneration rate, and he is getting into his teen years. Just wait until he's sixteen, he'll never stop eating."

The big man chuckled slightly as he looked at his limp wallet, "but who would have thought that, that Yugito girl would have an appetite to match, I just hope that we won't have to deal with too many other people with that kind of appetites in the future."

(Let's not ruin his delusional dreams shall we)

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Naruto was walking down the street aimlessly, he had decided a long time ago that his organization would have to take missions to fund its self, but now Zabuza and Haku were both on missions leaving him with no one to train with.

Yugito had just gotten out of the hospital and was still in no condition to train with him, instead she had chosen to run off to go shopping in town because all her cloths were ether still in Kumogakure no sato or badly burnt in their battle, leaving her to wear some of Haku's clothing…it fit her quite well actually.

He snickered at the memory, Yugito had at first refused to wear them because she said they were to "girly". Haku had not argued the point though Naruto and Zabuza hadn't stopped laughing at him for days.

"Maybe that's why he left," Naruto muttered as he walked down the street.

"Why?"

"GAH!"

"Yo, Naru-kun," somehow Yugito had managed to sneak up directly beside him.

"I laughed at Haku for being girly and now he's gone on a mission and I have nothing to do."

"Oh…you could walk with me to the hot springs."

"Why?"

"Because you have nothing better to do anyways, and it'll give us a chance to get to know each other better."

"You do know that the Onsen is divided between men and women, right," he deadpanned.

"Just walk with me until we get there."

"Alright, I don't have anything better to do."

The next few minutes were spent comparing traumatic childhood experiences. As they arrived at their destinations they separated and Yugito went into the bathhouse while Naruto just decided to wander around aimlessly for a while.

Then he heard it…

…Quiet, perverted, giggling.

He quickly changed his path and headed towards the source of the sound.

An old man with long white hair and an odd outfit that resembled a samurai with really bad taste in colors sat peeping through a hole in the wall.

The wall that concealed the women's side of the Onsen…the side Yugito-Chan was on…

He considered the situation for a moment and decided…to wing it.

"Hey you, creepy old pervert, what do you think you're doing."

Subtle he was not.

The old man never looked away from the peephole as he did three hand signs and slammed his hand into the ground.

As the smoke cleared Naruto saw two things: one, he hadn't taken his eyes away from the hole; two, he was sitting on the back of a very big toad.

The toad's tongue lashed out at the blond jinchuriki. As the appendage came near, he quickly moved his leg in such a way as to catch the tongue under it and pin it in place with his heal.

The toad pulled on its tongue but it was held in place by the boy's foot. Finally he let go and the tongue flew back into the toad's mouth so fast that it managed to whip the man on its back quite hard and make him fall off.

"Hey brat hasn't your mother ever taught you to respect your elders?"

"I'm an orphan."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"My friend is in there, if you peep on her I will rip out your spleen."

"Don't you know who I am?" he yelled at the blond.

"Does it matter?"

"I am Myouboku Mountain's Monk of the Frog Spirits. Also known as the Frog Hermit. I am the man who holds no enemies in the North, South, East and West! Not even in the heavens! I am one of the sannin, the white haired frog tamer, even a crying baby would stare in aw…the great Jiraiya!"

"you are also a pervert who decided to peep on a girl who happens to be quite close to me, therefore I feel that it is my obligation to severely injure you…also I'm board."

"I'll have you know that I am not a pervert!"

"Oh?"

"I am a SUPER PERVERT"

"I see, you say that your name is Jiraiya, hmm, my father was trained by someone named Jiraiya…that wouldn't be you would it?"

I don't train people, the only man I trained was…" his eyes grew wide in realization, "the Youndaime Hokage."

"Namikaze Minato, my father. I'm taking the chunin exams right now and even though I'm probably good enough to beat anyone there…it's best not to be overconfident, some extra training wouldn't hurt. Train me old man, you must know some good moves at your age."

"No, I don't train brats, no matter who your father was, and I'm not old…just experienced."

"If I beat you in a battle would you help me train?"

"Hah! You beat me? That won't happen in a million years! Fine if you beat me then I will teach you what I can to help you get stronger."

"Deal! There are no rules any weapons or tools can be used the battle is till first blood."

"Fine."

The boy grinned evilly, "Hey ladies there's an old man peeping on the bath house!" he then quickly did a hand sign and vanished into the rolling mist that came out of no where.

The super pervert's eyes grew wide as he realized what was about to happen, he was standing outside a women's bath, alone, where a pervert had been spotted, and the bath was full of Kunoichi…oh this was going to hurt.

He was right, the violent beating that followed was not for the faint of heart…or for the weak of stomach…or for those who are male…or human…you get the idea.

The only thing that saved the poor man was his mighty hair cacoon and precise aplication of chakra to block the 'strongest' attacks.

As the hord retreated back behind the wall, one woman was left standing alone over the elderly pervert, she looked around thoughtfully, then sniffed the air.

Jiraiya felt like he had gone to heaven, this girl with long blond hair and exotic, slanted, catlike eyes stood over him clad only in a pale violet towel.

"naruto-kun, what are you doing? And who is the old man?"

The mist drifted away, revieling the blond boy sitting only five meters away with a grinn on his face as he leaned on a tree.

"the old pervert is a famous ninja from the shinobi wars, I bet him that if I could beat him then he would have to help me train for the chunin exam. By the way, he's looking up your towel." He said matter of factly.

She froze and lookid down, then lifted fer foot of the ground and caused it to burst into flames. The old man's eyes widened just beffore the flamming foot smashed into his nose.

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after a trip to the hospital to have his nose repared and some burn creem aplied to his face the old pervert stood direct in front of the young blond boy.

"that was cheeting brat."

"that was the way of the ninja Ero-sennin. A ninja uses everything at his disposal, every advantage, every dirty trick and every weapon."

He was impressed, few genin these days understood that fact, most were more similar to samurai wariors than ninja assassins.

"you didn't make me bleed, therefore you failed."

"I see," his hand shot forward and sudenly the old manhad a small cut on his cheek, "how about now?"

"chakra blades, you are surprisingly skilled with them for a genin. I don't see why you want addisional training if you can atack with unseen weapons like that."

My first oponent is the genius of the hyuuga branch house. Chakra blades won't be enough and it is always a good idea to improve ones repertoir of skills."

"you are verry well spoken for a twelve year old."

"I have a demon in my stomach, I was forced to raise myself because the villagers hate me. My only friend untill I was eight was an old polititian, also known as the proffesor, how else would I speak."

"good point…well I supose that I can teach you what I can, your father would want me too." He said thoughtfully, the serious expression ruined by his swolen nose.

"great! What are you going to teach me?"

"do you know water walking?"

"yes."

"hmm, alright how about summoning?"

"you can teach me?"

"sure, first thing you will need is a summoning contract."

"Oh, a;right." He began to pull up the short sleave of his shirt, bearing his left shoulder and some kind of seal on it."

"what are you doing?"

"hmm? Oh I have this storage seal tatoed on my shoulder so that I can carry my most important posesions with me at all times without them being solen or slwoing me down."

"wait you have a summoning scroll but you can't summon yet?"

"yup, I got given a B-rank mision to get some archeologists into an ancient tomb past a bunch of death traps. After I got through I asked them to pay me with the scroll I found inside instead of money."

"oh, and the village council alowed this?"

the boy grinned in a maniacal way, "they don't know, I didn't tell anyone except for those who work for me, like Yugito-chan and Zabuza-san."

"wait, Momoshi Zabuza, the demon of the bloody mist?"

"yeah, him and his aprentice haku were the first people to join my organization, they are doing missions that I got through the hokage for them. They will be back in about a week."

"right…" theis brat is impressive, minato you would be proud, "well anyways, you should sign the contract in blood and place a handprint."

Naruto did just that and looked up at the man for further instruction, only to see him staring wide eyed at the contract in his hands.

He muttered something

"what was that Ero-sennin?"

"don't call me that," he snapped, " that contract, I thought it was just a myth. How did you get those arciologists into giving it to them?"

"I let them take some photographs of it and promised not to rat them out for lying about how hard the mission realy was and I stopped the Nikenin that came for the items they took from it."

"right…well…lets try it out, now here are the hand signs for a summoning jutsu, if the summon boss likes you he will show you how to get easyer summoning of that clan specifically. Now comon try it."

The boy grinned than did the hand signs and forced a large amount of chakra into the jutsu, enough for at least fiftry Kage Boushin. There was a burst of smoke…a loud bang…and a roar.

When the smoke cleared, there in front of him was a slim serpentine form covered in fine silver scaled with small horns rising from it's head and a set of talloned limbs with four fingers on each limb.

However there was a snag…it was only half a meter long.

The old man burst out laughing, "that is all you sumoned, it's puny!"

Naruto however was looking down at the dragon with a thoughtfull expresion and quietly muttering to himself, "hmm, if the size of the dragon is directly proportional to the amount of chakra I use then a dragon large enough to be of serious help in battle would take a massive amount of chakra, however if there is a minimum amoount of chakra for the summoning itself and then a adisional chakra cost for the size…hmm, lets try it out."

Gathering roughly twice the chakra he had previously used he begun the technique again, Kuchiyose no jutsu!

As the massive amount of smoke cleared he was graced with the sight of a great crimson dragon with a golden mane of hair and long wiskers that trailed behind him, one on each side of his face. The massive dragon was of reagal bearing and had piercing, golden eyes with red flecs. Compared to the previous summon this one was huge, from tail to nose he was most likely twenty meters in length at the very least, to add the the effect he had great black tallons and single katana at his side, connected to a leather belt that was wrapped just a meter ubove his rear limbs.

As the old man stopped laughing and stared in aw at the magnificent beast, naruto was deap in though, "so it was the second option after all, or maybe there is some kind of weird fomula that measures it. I guess I'll have to ask Saru-ji about it."

"are you ignoring me you little brat! I am Enkomaru! The mighty warior dragon of flames, an unstopable warrior who breaths flames so hot that they can melt steal!"

"hmm, sory about that, I'm trying to figure out how this summoning jutsu works, like how much chakra it takes to summon a dragon that can actualy fight." Naruto explained, "i'm just using this contract for the first time and you are the second dragon I was able to summon."

"second? Who else is here?" he looked around untill he noticed the little silver hatchling near naruto's leg, "oh, tiny little guy, hard to believe I was ever that small."

"stop talking like an old man, you are not even all that great, I bet you aren't even anything more that an average warrior summon."

"I'll have you know brat that I happen to be a fire speacialist."

"don't all dragons breath fire?"

"No they don't, some breath lightning, or ice or even acid. However that's not the point, I don't just breath fire, I can comand fire, I am a Karyuu who has speacialy trained in katon ninjutsu."

"oh, cool…"

this was the beginning of a long descution that lasted close to an hour. The next day naruto proceaded to sumon the same dragon again and spent the entire day talking to him, this happened again of the third day…and the fourth day…and the fith.

After a week of naruto sumoning the same dragon again and again, the old man decided that it was time to force his new student into summoning something bigger…and that is how we arive at this point.

"he pushed me down a cliff…he actualy pushed me down a cliff."

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great place to end isn't it,

however out of kindness (read as guilt for making you all wait so long) I will continue.

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all was quiet, as he lay on the stone floor.

Sudenly the silence was broken by a mighty cry of rage!

His eyes shot open, he lay on the top of a massive Zugurat (a kind of stepped piramid primarily found in messopotamia).

All around the piramid was a dense green forest with spires o stone rising ubove the trees in various places, and a deep blue lake lay only a short way from the piramid with thin streams and rivers winding their way out of it. ubove him was the sky, a beutifull blue expanse of saphire coloured velvet.

However now the sky was covered in masive storm clouds with bolts of firy lightning jumping around them, striking the ground in various places, the water of the lake was covered in wirlpools and the waters seemed to buble with rage, the forest was filled with the cries of some strange beasts that had yet to show themselves.

He turned and spoke to the masive bieng behind him, **"calm down kit, calm down and focus. What's wrong now?"**

He finaly opened his eyes and looked upon the man in front of him, a man of great stature and strength. He wore a set of samurai armor with no helm, yet his body was covered in scars and still open gashes, the most intimidating thing about him however was his face. Between the furious eyes of a deadly predator was a single, glowing blue eye. He roared again and the cage of flames burned higher than before as it reacted to his rage.

"HE THREW ME OFF A CLIFF! THAT DAMNED JACKASS PUSHED ME OFF A CLIFF!"

"**so?"**

"what do you mean 'so", I asked him to train me and he pushes me off a cliff!"

"**why did he do that?"**

"well…we were practicing the Kutchiyose no jutsu, I guess that he got anoyed that I kept summoning the same dragon."

"**righ, he probobly decided that you had reached a block in your path and wanted to force youu to use more chakra to summon something bigger."**

"righ, that makes sense," the scared warrior shrank down into a blond boy with messy hair, "then maybe i should give him what he wants," he grinned maniacly.

"**now you're thinking like a fox."**

They both grinned evily, then looked eachother in the eyes, **"time to show him what it means to anger a demon container." **They both said at once.

The massive fox standing on the top of the piramid surounded bya ring of flames raised his nine tails, his body began to glow with firy light as the ligtning in the clouds grew wilder and turned red and the bolts began to strike everywhere. The waters of the lake began to boil and a masive waterspout rose towards the sky as bolts of ligtning met it as it rose.

In the outside world the falling boy opened his glowing red eyes and began the handsigns and gathering chakra.

All around the village ninja raised their heads at the intense chakra that was gathering not far away. The hokage chuckled, "looks like you made a serious mistake jiraiya."

Many people froze n place and looked northeast at the masive pillar of smoke that rose and then vanished as an imesurably long serpentine form rose into the air.

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the massive dragon with shining platinum scales and a mane of long golden hair. It had long wiskers on its uper jaw and four short ones on its chin.

It's body was at least two hundred meters long with it's body coiling in various places so as to decrease the area that it covered and in it's right hand it caried a naginata as tall as some of konoha's trees (have you seen those things! They are huge!).

"**WHO DARES OT SUMMON RYUUJIN, KING OF THE MIGHTY DRAGON CLAN!"**

"I'm up here," naruto called from the dragon's head.

"**I know, but I still want to know who you are."**

"oh, right…I am Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, champion of the opressed, the mighty one man army and keeper of the kyuubi no kitsune also known as Shinkukaen no Naruto, son of the youndaime hokage of Konohagakure no sato in Hi no kuni." (vilage of the hidden leaf in fire country)

"and I am Ryuujin! King of the dragons and once worshipped as a god by humans several thousand years ago. It has been a long time since anyone signed the dragon contract let alone summoned me. The fact that you are still standing is a testament to your strength, however… WHY DID YOU SUMMON ME IN A RAVIENE, I SHOULD EAT YOU ALIVE FOR SUCH AN INSULT!"

"let me tell you a story about my curent sensei, and his training meathods…" the great dragon king looked curiously at the evil gleem in his summoner's eye.

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**yup, you guessed it, jiraiya is doomed to a very humiliating and painfull beating.**

**On an interesting note, I just discovered through my reading of the manga that jiraiya is actualy the strongest of the densetsu no sanin…yes stronger than orochimaru.**

**Orochimaru is imortal and imoral however jiraiya is actualy realy powerfull on his own, thanks to his sage mode.**

**Itachi actualy said that the only way for him and Kisame to defeat him they would have to lay down their lives, while he was able to kick orochimaru's ass into the stratasphere.**

**Also the most powerfull doujutsu in the world is the rinnegan (or somethig like that) and alows the user to use all SIX chakra types…and yet kakashi said that there are only five, maybe one is so rare that it is not even mentioned by most.**

**Well it also apears that everyone who jiraiya trains turns out as a supperpowered freek.**

**The akatsuki leader**

**The youndaime hokage**

**Konan of akatsuki**

**And naruto…if you think he isn't supperpowered check out his fujin Rasen shuriken technique (which translates roughly as 'wind god spiraling throwing star'.)**

**Yeah…well I'm not going to ruin the plot anymore so yeah…**

**Remember to check my other story an dtell me what you think in the reviews so that I will continue it.**


	16. To Shater Fate

**True Jinchuriki**

**To shatter Fate**

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, nor is anything I use for a crossover. However, that won't stop me from writing fan fiction. D'ettebayo**

**Well my other fic has been met with 15 reviews…that is pitiful compared to the 27 I received when I first published the first two chapters of this one. I guess I'll publish the second chapter anyways and see how it does, if I don't get at least 27 reviews total after the second chapter, I will discontinue it.**

**Now, I'm having some different thoughts about my pairings, I can't decide how I should organize some of them, I have no pairing for Zabuza, this is ok however I really want to make a pairing for Haku. As for others, I have pairings for Naruto (two of them), for lee (not sure how to do this one though) and for Gaara (yes, I have a pairing in mind for Gaara).**

**I have been considering others.**

**Now, please note that I have been considering different methods of doing line breaks, don't be surprised to find a different type used from time to time.**

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"Hey Ero-sennin, I would like to speak with you regarding our arrangements for training." Came a sickly, sweet voice.

The old pervert began to sweat, there were several facts he knew.

Fact one: a few seconds ago there had been a violent surge of charka from the area where he had left Naruto.

Fact two: all of the beautiful ladies had suddenly run away, and he wasn't the reason.

Fact three: something was blocking off all of the burning hot sunlight.

Fact four: Naruto sounded pissed, very pissed.

Fact five: Jiraiya was the reason.

"Oh, crud," he turned around slowly, "oh, sweet mother of all things perverted." He found himself starring at the tip of a naginata, a naginata that was the size of one of konoha's famous giant trees. To make matters worse, on the other side of the aforementioned naginata were two pairs of eyes, one of them gold, and one of them shining, hateful crimson.

"I take offence to being pushed down a cliff; if you wanted a bigger dragon…you could have just asked."

One thought kept running through the old man's head, "I am so screwed."

**-thirty five and a half minutes later-**

A large number of Anbu, jounin, the Hokage and several foreign jounin arrived on scene just in time to see one of the legendary three ninja, force-fed his own notebook.

Crimson claws slashed wildly and what appeared to be an animal head made of red charka burst from the blond boy's mouth and attempted to bite the older man.

Activating his defensive cocoon of hair, he managed to defend against being bitten in half. However the massive jaws clenched on the cocoon, and lifting it in to the air began to wave it around before launching it at a cliff.

As the cocoon receded and revealed the badly shaken and dizzy old man, his opponent had already launched his second wave of attacks, a deadly rain of shuriken.

His attack struck only a stump but the old man was still stunned slightly from the recent attacks, before he could try to subdue his enraged student, he felt hot breath on his back.

The Hokage looked on in amazement as the grand; dragon lowered its head so quietly behind his former student.

"hello little pervert…I feel that I must explain my actions, I don't like being summoned in a ravine, nor do I like my sumoners to be thrown into holes, ravines, or pits. You would do well to remember that."

The battle didn't last long, together the two leviathans of power quickly beet the old man into the ground, and broke at least four ribs.

"Oops, I think he's dead…we may have gotten carried away a bit, Ryuujin-sama. I hadn't planned on killing him."

"He is still alive...but we may have gotten carried away a little bit. He can still be saved, if you still have enough charka." He looked down at the young summoner, "you should summon my nephew, Shiryuu.

Naruto looked up at the dragon king, "alright, I guess. Why though?"

"He has certain abilities, I will explain latter."

"Right, KUCHIYOSE: SHIRYUU!"

there was a blast of smoke like always when something was summoned, however instead of slowly desipitating, the smoke was blown outwards and away from the summon instantly. The dragon that hung in midair in the center of the smoke, was pitch black with a white mane, beard and claws, white markings on it's face seemed to highlight his bones and he wore a shredded black cloak that flowed behind him. He carried a scythe of strange bonelike material that shone with an odd, ominous light.

Without saying a word the dragon flew towards the prone form of Jiraiya, he inhaled deeply and exhaled an odd luminous cloud, as the old man coughed and began to breathe almost normally, Shiryuu turned to Naruto.

"this one will live…it is not yet time for him to die…I must rest now" the dragon's voice sounded quite young however it had a strange dead quality to it, a dull rasping sound that seemed to come from beyond the grave. His voice was filled with weariness that was reminiscent of an old veteran warrior who had seen too much death.

Naruto nodded,

"It was good to see you again uncle…I shall now take my leave…" he spoke to Ryuujin.

The larger dragon nodded his head with a trace of sadness of his eyes.

After he left the dragon king spoke, "Shiryuu is cursed in a way, while most dragons command fire, he had control over the bonds that tie the soul to the body, his breath can strengthen this connection, and in doing so, stave off death. That scythe he carries is the exact opposite; it can sever the connection all together if it is weak, he was once summoned often during the war against a mad summoner who attempted to force the dead to return under his command."

"So, he's an exorcist?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Essentially, however the scythe is in fact is a very deadly weapon, every time it slashes a person, it weakens the ties between body and soul, bringing death closer, a devastating power: it doesn't harm the body but reduces one's strength. It is however also a curse, his power makes him always conscious of death's approach to all those around him. It is a terrible burden to always be surrounded by death."

"I see," he turned to the aged hokage, "I think Jiraiya-sensei needs a doctor, I suspect some of his ribs might be fractured."

As he walked away, Sarutobi looked at his fallen student and observed his slightly collapsed looking chest and his shallow, wet breathing. No, he didn't need a doctor, he needed an emergency room.

"Hmm, it seems Kakashi-kun was not mistaken in his assessment," the old man thought aloud.

"What do you mean hokage-sama?" one of his aids asked curiously.

"He has trouble comprehending the severity of injuries on other people, because of his greatly increased healing rate and immune-system. It would explain why almost all his strikes are so brutal. He doesn't understand the idea that a person could bleed to death, or be crippled from a broken limb, because he judges injuries as if they were on him."

"So you are saying he isn't overly cruel, he just doesn't comprehend how much damage he is actually doing?"

"It would appear so…"

"…that is disturbing to think about."

All through this exchange Konohamaru watched from a short distance away.

**-Some time latter-**

A man was walking through the streets of konoha, his katana sheathed and resting on his shoulder. Kikuchiyo had just arrived in the village after receiving a letter from an old friend to see the chunin exams.

He had abandoned his oversized blade for a properly sized katana, during a vicious battle some weeks ago, after his sword had been broken in battle. He had thought himself mortally wounded and chosen to die as a warrior and fearlessly attacked and killed the enemy leader before collapsing from blood loss. Imagine his surprise when he woke up two days latter, wrapped in bandages with a young woman with black hair and a pig looking down at him, while his friends and comrades sat nearby drinking sake with a large-chested blond.

For his courage in the face of death his fellows had officially welcomed him as a true samurai and even made a toast to him. Remembering the battle of course brought his mind back to someone he saw as an inspiration. Months ago he had met the young ninja in a small town and even observed as he used a combination of intimidation tactics and traps to eliminate an entire camp of bandits.

"Hey! Kikuchiyo, long time no see!" well speak of the devil!

"Naruto, it's been a while. I must say that I was surprised when I heard that you were participating in the chunin exams, I though that with your skill you would be at least chunin already!"

"Ha, everyone has to start somewhere. You started as a loud, obnoxious farm-boy; and now look at you, now you are a loud obnoxious samurai!" he answered with a foxy grin.

The two began their trek back to the restaurant where the samurai had planned to meet for lunch.

All this was observed by a pair of dark ringed eyes.

**-The day before the exam-**

Hinata was walking towards one of Konoha's training grounds. For days now ever since she was released from the hospital she would come and watch Naruto train. And it was starting to scare her. Neji didn't stand a chance; yesterday she had seen him dodging kunai while walking on his hands, on water. Latter she saw him deflecting thousands of senbon needles from every direction without leaving a small circle.

Earlier she saw him fighting a man with a large sword while blindfolded.

Today…today he was doing some kind of meditation while his feminine friend, (Haku) was throwing needles at him periodically. Surprisingly most of the needles would bounce off of his skin as though it was made of steel; those that didn't were quickly removed and tossed into a small pile.

As he finished, Naruto stood and walked over to the pile, "I think I'm getting better at this."

"I am quite impressed Naruto-sama. This technique may be just the thing to block the juuken entirely."

"Hai, it took me almost two weeks to come up with it but if it works it will be worth it, I can block almost anything with it, depending on how much charka I use…theoretically."

"You're getting close. This technique has the potential to make you as famous as your father."

Hinata grew curious at this: who was Naruto's father and why didn't anyone know who he was if he was famous?"

"Hinata, are you going to stand there all day?" when had Naruto gotten behind her?

"G-gomen ne, Naruto-kun I didn't mean to bother you." Her voice was so quiet that it took Naruto's superior hearing to catch it.

"Don't worry about it, my battle is dedicated to avenging his behavior towards you, so it seems suitable that you be allowed to see my preparations. I will not allow his actions to go unpunished, that is my oath." There was complete conviction in his voice, "I will not be prevented from punishing his crimes."

She was shocked, to hear this strange speech coming from the object of her affections. All those years she knew there was more to him than met the eye but not this. He was far stronger smarter and more impressive than she had ever imagined. _'He is strong enough to beat Neji, and if he does…he will kill him.' _She thought with some shock.

Naruto calmly took out a whetstone and proceeded to sharpen his Kodachi quietly.

"Ano…N-Naruto-kun, are you planning to kill Neji-niisan?" she asked timidly.

"Yes, anyone who would treat their own flesh and blood in such a way doesn't deserve to live."

"Please," Hinata's voice was surprisingly loud, "please don't. He really doesn't deserve to be killed for something like that."

A short distance away Naruto paused, "even after what he did to you…you would defend him?" he looked at her thoughtfully, "sure, if that is what you want, I won't kill him. Though I must say I'm impressed, there are few people in this world who are as forgiving as you." With these words he rose and left, leaving a very red-faced Hinata.

**-Exam day-**

Everyone had gathered from all around the village, everyone expected to see the last Uchiha victorious and to see the 'kyuubi brat' completely humiliated.

(A/N: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!)

Surprisingly neither Naruto nor Sasuke were present.

As the proctor called for everyone to go to the competitors booth, it became clear that Naruto was absent.

"He won't come, proctor. He has seen that he cannot win and so he has chosen to avoid facing me."

Just as Neji finished his speech there was a violent burst of smoke that quickly blew aside revealing Naruto.

"Sorry for making you wait proctor, I seem to have misplaced my exploding notes and had to go get more." Even as he finished saying this there was a violent explosion in the distance that was accompanied by twin cries of _"NARUTOOOO??"_

He chuckled quietly, "well I do hope I'm not too late, I wouldn't miss this battle for anything…well, I guess maybe for a chance to fight Gaara."

In the stands everyone from Suna nearly choked as they heard the comment.

"Very well, begin." The proctor immediately vanished in a swirl of leaves.

As the battle started, Neji began to speak, "you should not have come: your fate is to lose to me today. You should have surrendered and spared yourself the pain and humiliate…"

He never got a chance to finish as he received a devastating punch to the gut.

"It was my fate to die at the hands of an angry mob years ago." With these words he launched a knee into his enemy's face.

Neji recovered and activated his Byakugan, settling into his stance.

"Watch carefully Hinabi, Neji is the greatest genius of our clan, he has inherited the Byakugan stronger than any other." In the stands the Hyuuga clan watched the battle with interest.

Neji once more attempted to start a speech only to have to doge a powerful kick. He could have kept talking if he hadn't been attacked from below by another Naruto.

All of a sudden he was surrounded by more clones who all charged. There was a humming noise as all of the clones exploded filling the area with smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Naruto tossed a single kunai at him. He prepared to doge only for the kunai to transform into at least fifty. Twice in a row he was forced to use kaiten.

In the stands Hiashi Hyuuga let his eyes widen in shock.

Neji charged with a palm strike, only for Naruto to straighten his body and put his arms out like a T and spin with violent speed.

His body was surrounded with a perfect ring of blades made from crimson charka, the blades spun violently slicing through earth and stone while letting out a screech like nails on stone.

"**AKATAIFUU!"** Neji replaced himself with a log and watched in horror as it was turned into sawdust.

Naruto caught one of the tiny wood pieces and began to pick his teeth, "really, Neji I expected more. They call you a genius, yet all of your attacks are the same, no variation whatsoever."

Neji scowled and moved forward quickly, throwing a kunai at his opponent. Naruto however caught it and threw it back.

Neji dodged it without slowing and getting in close, he fell into a strange stance. "You are in range of divination"

In the stands Hiashi stared slack jawed, not only had Neji learned two of the main houses secret techniques without proper training but his opponent had a technique that was so similar to the kaiten without even being a Hyuuga.

"Two strikes, four strikes, eight strike, sixteen strikes, thirty-two strikes, sixty-four strikes,"

Naruto fell back stumbling and looked at Neji with a surprised look on his face, "a fast attack."

"I have closed all o your tenketsu, you…" his eyes widened in shock once more.

Naruto grinned brightly like he always did when he was in the academy, however instead of making one think of how goofy he looked the expression made one oddly aware of how many teeth he actually had. It made him look like a predator who had found some juicy prey. "You see don't you, yes I knew that you would eventually. Your attack truly is devastating, it could have caused me much discomfort, if it had hit."

In the stands people grew confused, the attack had hit every time.

"This is the technique I have developed, Ryuukawa no yoroi (dragonhide armor) this name is somewhat diseptive I suppose. You see, for this technique I trained my body especially for the purpose of saturating all of my body with charka, by doing this I can make my skin into a nearly impenetrable armor to deflect almost any attack, since my skin is so thickly saturated with charka it blocks charka based attacks even better than regular taijutsu, furthermore this technique also saturated my bodies other tissues with charka and in doing so improves my reflexes, speed, and strength while also enhancing my already superior regenerative abilities."

By now he was holding back an evil laugh at seeing the gears turning inside his opponent's head.

"It is true that one cannot train their interior organs to defend against the Juuken however, my technique is based around blocking all charka based attacks, whether they are ninjutsu or juuken."

"Theoretically this technique is incredible; however the requirements in charka to maintain it make it completely impractical. You are a fool for keeping it active for so long, you are merely wasting charka. At this rate you will collapse from exhaustion without me even having to attack you."

"Normally this would be true, I suppose however I haven't activated the technique," he smirked at the confused look on his enemy's face, "this technique is permanently active. The only thing that changed is the amount of charka I'm focusing into it; my body naturally has a massive charka supply, roughly double Kakashi-sensei unless I'm mistaken."

"Impossible, even with such an advantage you shouldn't be able to keep it active indefinitely."

Naruto smirked evilly, "I know, maybe if you beet me I will tell you how I do it."

The tension was growing thicker, and in the competitor's box Gaara was practically drooling wit excitement. It didn't help that he kept muttering "mother shall have your blood," repeatedly under his breath.

"Yo"

"You're late…though earlier than I expected." Naruto said loudly turning to look at his sensei that had appeared standing on the wall surrounding the arena.

As the entire crowd starred at him the one-eyed ninja looked down at Naruto, "Naruto do know why I thirty-five exploding notes around my tent at the training area I was using?"

"I was concerned that your lateness would bet Sasuke disqualified so I set you up I little incentive to get up. Where is Sasuke anyways?"

"He isn't quite as good at dodging your traps as I am; he went home to get changed since your explosives incinerated most of his clothes." A large number of girls in the audience got red as they imagined Sasuke running home naked.

"Oh, well I need to get back to my fight." He said as he used Kawarimi o evade Neji's Hakke Rokujuuyon Sho.

"You are a fool, everything is predetermined by fate! Everyone is born with a certain fate and that cannot be changed!" Neji yelled.

Suddenly Neji began to tell a story about his childhood and how his father was killed to save the current clan head's life.

"Thank you for the story, however I really don't care. If you want to be angry that your father died to protect his brother then be my guest. However I personally think that that kind of loyalty is inspiring, your father died to protect a man's life and because of this you apparently felt the need to kill your cousin because of this. Well I suppose that's your choice however I made you a promise back during the preliminaries. Do you remember what I said?"

Even as Naruto finished is statement he ran through a series of hand-signs.

**-Line break-**

A thick fog quickly filled the area though not tick enough to block anything from sight.

"This is pathetic; your mist doesn't hide anything."

"Or does it hid just enough" came a feminine voice.

Suddenly the entire misty area was filled with nude female forms, they all moved around in the surprisingly hot fog, like at a hot spring.

Neji focused hard, he could not let such techniques affect him.

Then they threw themselves on him.

'Must concentrate, I cannot allow such tactics to work on me.'

Meanwhile in the crowds there were mixed reactions, lust, rage, jealousy but mostly confusion.

"What is Naruto thinking, this is a battle, he can't use the orioke no jutsu for battle!"

"Why?" Iruka turned to see the legendary demon of the bloody mists.

"It's a prank technique, not an attack!"

"Oh, really? In a shinobi battle even the slightest distraction can cause death, and you must admit…that technique is highly distracting."

A surprising number of people heard him and news spread throughout the arena quite quickly.

**-In the kage booth-**

"An interesting technique wouldn't you agree Hokage-sama."

"Hai, Kazekage-sama Naruto always was a surprising individual but this is definitely not what I expected."

Suddenly there was a cry and Neji jumped out of the fog for just a moment followed closely by a naked woman with a kunai in her hand, just as fast as she appeared she vanished in a puff of smoke. Then all hell broke loose.

Naruto's voice could be heard from all directions at the same time, "**Orioke hijutsu: Onsen ansatsu no jutsu!**" (sexy secret technique: hot-spring assassination technique)

With a cry of "kaiten" the fog was thrown aside and the clones exploded into smoke.

Neji was left standing alone in the arena; he was covered in multiple cuts and scratches and was breathing heavily.

Naruto slowly rose out of the ground to Neji's right. "Congratulations, you are the first person I have tried this technique on, however now it is time to finish this battle."

Naruto disappeared and reappeared in front of Neji, a single uppercut sent his opponent into the air, Naruto appeared directly bellow Neji and did several hand signs. Slamming his hands into Neji he launched him higher while propelling himself headfirst at the ground.

As he landed on his feet Naruto didn't even turn to look in Neji's direction, he simple drew a scroll from his pocket and summoned an umbrella, "**Kitsueki no Ame**." (Rain of blood)

Far above him, Neji began to spin violently, blades of wind cutting into his skin while spinning him like a top. Blood began to fly from the cuts as he was spun faster and faster before going into a violent corkscrew into the ground.

As Neji fell to the ground with a loud thump, Naruto dismissed his umbrella and walked over to Neji.

"You know, I don't like to go back on my word. I swore that I would kill you for your crimes during the preliminary matches, however the situation has changed. Your cousin came to me some days ago, the very same one you tried to kill, and made an odd request…she asked me to spare your life, and so I shall." With that he began to walk away, "don't forget, Hyuuga Neji…you owe her your life."

Breaking from his shock first the proctor made his announcement, "WINNER UZUMAKI NARUTO!"

Cheers came from all around, anyone who was not from the village and maybe half of those who were began to cheer for the great strength that this boy showed.

Suddenly all grew silent as the hokage stood and walked to the edge of the balcony and made a gesture to one of his aids.

"My successor, the Youndaime hokage is seen in this village as a hero…however there is something about him that is not common knowledge. Before he sacrifices himself to defeat the Kyuubi no Kitsune he asked me one final favor." The old man paused to make sure that everyone was paying attention. "he told me a sertaim bit of information and asked that when the time was deemed right, that I should tell it to the public." He paused for effect, "THE YOUNDAIME'S LEGACY LIVES ON!" along with his loud proclamation the words on the electronic display changed.

**WINNER, NAMIKAZE NARUTO!**

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Well, this took me a long time; I guess it turned out longer than I had planned, wow over 4000 words, which is a lot for me.**

**I would like to inform you that I have also almost completed the second chapter of my other fanfic and it will be posted shortly.**

**I hope that you enjoyed this page; also the next page will include the battle between Naruto and Gaara,**

**This would have been up sooner but I had so many ideas for how to royally kick Neji's ass that I couldn't focus on just one.**

**It's the opposite of a writer's block; it's a writer's tsunami!**


	17. End of the Exams

**True Jinchuriki**

**The End of the Exam**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I own any of the ideas I use from other sources, with the exception of my own ideas; these are my intellectual property.**

**I finished my exams, and passed most of my classes. And I finally got past my laziness so that I could write this.**

**Actually this has been written for several days and I've been deciding whether or not I should make it longer.**

**Now this story is finally being updated so have fun reading about the last part of the exam!**

**Anyway, on with the show!**

_**Also I would like say that I have been planning Naruto's speech for months!**_

-XXX-

The stadium was in chaos, the civilian population of Konoha was in outrage, the ninja were in aw and the delegations from the lightning and earth countries were frantically giving orders to their underlings.

In moments the cloud and earth bingo books had changed to contain the name of the most feared man to ever come from Konoha.

The local Ninja had begun to whisper amongst themselves.

And the civilians… well they were confused. How could the demon brat be the son of the fourth Hokage? Wasn't it just the Kyuubi trapped in human form?

As the chaos began to die down; two voices were heard.

"I shall destroy you to prove my existence!"

"You are welcome to try."

The various ninja from suna froze in their seats as the boy baited Gaara. No one ever baited Gaara and lived to tell the tail.

"The brat is as good as dead; no one baits Gaara and lives to tell the tale." Temari said with a smirk.

"Don't count on it," Shikamaru commented. "A few days ago I would say the same thing, but not after yesterday."

_-Flashback-_

_Shikamaru walked out of Chouji's room at the hospital and walked down the hall. As he rounded the corner he saw an odd sight, Gaara walked into lee's room before Naruto followed him._

"_What the hell are they doing?"_

_Shikamaru hurried after them and entered the room in time to hear Gaara state, "I am a monster, which consumes all others to feed its existence."_

"_Then you and I are not so different. I have a monster of my own, and I assure you one-tail, it is far greater." Naruto's words were quiet and devoid of emotion, "your desire to kill him only proves your own weakness and inferiority."_

_Naruto then walked out of the room just as Gai burst in through the window._

_-Flashback end-_

The stadium was quiet.

Temari shivered slightly as she contemplated the words the boy had said, he said that he had a much greater monster in him, and he had called Gaara: one-tail. There could only be one meaning behind that: Konoha had its own jinchuriki, and any jinchuriki could be a serious threat. If it stopped Gaara from helping in the invasion then they would fail, but if he beat Gaara they would all be slaughtered!

She turned to Kankuro to see the same realization on his face; they were in trouble.

The proctor called for Uchiha Sasuke to come to the battlefield to battle Gaara, but he was not there. As such, the mach was postponed to not disappoint the audience.

Kankuro surrendered and suddenly it was her turn to fight, she took a moment to calm herself and floated down to the arena on her fan.

-XXX-

The lazy Genius simply lay down on the ground and look up at the clouds. He considered the battle ahead of him; only one word seemed to describe what lay ahead, "mendokuse."

He didn't get much time to contemplate the battle ahead as a blast of wind nearly ripped his head off.

However Shikamaru's mind didn't need much time to contemplate; he evaded the blast and hid in the trees.

This battle would be the longest match ever recorded in a ninja competition; not that this was a difficult task considering most ninja battles only lasted until the first solid hit.

-XXX-

"This is going to take a while."

"Who do you think will win?" the Cyclops asked offhandedly to his blond student.

"I'll bet you three weeks of meals at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, that Shikamaru will get a technical victory but surrender at the last second." Naruto said with a grin.

"Oh, why do you say that?"

"It's simple really, Shikamaru is lazy as hell but he is much better when it comes to ninja skills than most chunin whom I have met. If he had your age and experience, he would completely humiliate you, Kakashi-sensei. His brains are the best in fire country while his physical abilities are average. Combined with superb charka control, his training as a strategist and the ability to make his enemies copy his movements with a low level jutsu…well you can figure it out if you think about it."

Kakashi put his book away and looked seriously at the battle, "he could be one of the world's most dangerous ninja, if only he wasn't so lazy."

"He could, potentially. However there is a way for him to be even more dangerous to the enemies of this village. Team him up with a good spy master and give him command of a couple teams of half decent ninja. Toss in a couple of specialists and secure location to work and you have a nearly unbeatable squadron. Give him access to one specialist in each of the standard shinobi arts and he can conquer a country. But only if you get him motivated enough to actually bother." Naruto smirked as he said the last part.

"He is right," the chain smoking jounin sitting on Kakashi's other side said quite seriously, "I once gave Shikamaru an IQ test disguised as a puzzle, he has an IQ of 200! It's the highest I have ever seen. The boy is a genius, but a lazy one."

"He will make a fine strategist one day; I only hope that he is on my side when that day comes." Naruto commented.

Kakashi and Asuma nodded in agreement, a good strategist could make even a mediocre team accomplish great things.

-XXX-

The battle came to a close spectacularly.

As Temari attempted to evade the shadow that kept trying to catch her, she found that her body was suddenly unable to move. In amazement she turned her head slightly to see Shikamaru crouching behind her, at the edge of the wall's shadow.

She turned back to where she thought her opponent was before only to see a clone disperse itself.

"amazing, you distracted me with a clone and then channeled your shadow around the outside of the arena to make it look like it was coming out of that area while secretly moving to a location that was closer to me." She looked at her opponent with wide eyes, "I was so focused on the shadow that I didn't see you move…no, that's not right is it? You did something, but what?"

"Mendokuse…I used **kawarimi **on my shirt." He said bluntly, it sounded like the most obvious thing in the world. When his shirt landed behind her, he simply made a **bushin **and used **kawarimi** to get behind her and then moved back into the wall's shadow to trick her into getting in range.

He lifted one hand into the air and Temari found herself doing the same thing.

"I surrender."

The entire audience looked like they had been petrified.

"I have little charka left and there is no way I could beat my next opponent anyway. I surrender." The lazy genius commented.

A cry was heard throughout the stands as the legendary Copy ninja of Konoha wept for his soon to be empty wallet.

-XXX-

"Uchiha Sasuke is not here; as such he will be given another five minutes after which he will forfeit the match." The proctor announced to the crowds.

Naruto sighed, "Another five minutes, he is already late and now we have to wait even longer?"

As the proctor counted down to zero; Sasuke arrived. A sudden strong wind blew and the dark haired boy appeared in the arena. He wore a blue shirt with a high collar and black pants that barely reached his knees. (The black shirt he was going to wear was ruined by some well placed explosives)

"I hope I'm not late." His arrogant tone made it clear that he really didn't care whether he was or not.

The battle proved to be quite one sided, Gaara seemed to almost ignore his opponent and let his automatic defense do most of the work. Though at first he was startled by his opponents speed and strength the novelty wore off quickly.

Sasuke's attacks never quite reached their target no matter what he did, after several minutes of constant failed attempts he lost his patience. Running up the wall he began to perform hand signs.

-XXX-

Gaara watched his opponent in mild interest; sure he was fast but not as fast as the green one. His attacks were weaker and he was getting tired faster. He wasn't important.

Usually for an opponent of this level, the demon inside him would call for blood but today things were different. This one was a good appetizer and nothing more; he would save his power for the next fight, for his fellow demon.

Soon he would face the blond boy who defeated the Hyuuga with such ease; soon he would face a true challenge.

He was eager to battle but something seamed strange, his blood wasn't boiling in anticipation of a satisfying kill, his inner demon wasn't calling for blood, his hands were cold. What was this feeling, this strange feeling he got when he thought about the battle to come, why did his breath become shallow at the thought of facing the other jinchuriki? Why did he want to save his energy even though he had never considered such a course of action before? Why did he have a strange feeling in his stomach as he prepared for his next match? Why was he asking all of these questions?

-XXX-

Sasuke moved towards his opponent with the **Chidori **ready to strike, his **sharingan** focused on his opponent. He would show the world what it meant to be an Uchiha.

Gaara seemed to notice him suddenly for the first time in this battle, his eyes widened.

A wisp of sand blocked Sasuke's sight for a mere moment.

He struck, his hand going through the other boy's heart, but something was wrong. The boy in front of him fell apart into sand.

Sasuke froze for a moment; his enemy had dodged by using the same trick as he had against Lee's **Omoto Renge**. He had left his shell behind and escaped.

With a quick jump Sasuke evaded the tendrils that tried to catch him. He continued to dodge for several moments until he had his back against the wall. As fast as he could Sasuke ran through hand signs and another **Chidori** began to gather in his hand, he would not lose! As he was about to charge again he found that he couldn't.

"Let me go, I can get him." The dark haired boy growled.

"No, you can't" Kakashi stood at his side, holding his wrist to prevent him from using the Chidori, "this technique is called an assassination technique for a reason. It is meant to kill your enemy on the first strike, every time he dodges the likelihood of you actually striking him decreases. If you miss now you will be too tired to defend yourself against his inevitable counter attack and I will not let what happened to Lee happen to one of my students. You have lost, get over it and live to fight another day." With these words Kakashi let go and turned away.

"You think that the dobe will beat him! You think that that loser can beat him while I can't!" Sasuke accused loudly, "it is your job to make me stronger than him! You are my sensei!"

A loud slap could be heard through the entire arena, "I am his sensei as well, and if he is stronger than you then it is because he trains harder." Kakashi's voice rang through the air.

"You know he is right, Uchiha-san if Lee who is crippled as a shinobi can get that strong even through that handicap then you as a genius should be more than able to keep up." The polite words did nothing to conceal the insult. Naruto grinned, a strange feral grin as he walked past Sasuke, "however you shouldn't feel too discouraged after all there is only one thing that can beat a monster. Can you guess what that is?"

The stadium was deathly quiet.

"The only thing that can beat a monster is another monster."

-XXX-

Gaara couldn't take his eyes of the blond boy; he felt a burst of adrenalin hit his system. The natural fight or flight reflex that all animals have, when confronted with a predator.

When a predator meets another predator there is only one possible result, a fight to the death.

-XXX-

Orochimaru was seething internally, he wanted to start the invasion but it had to be postponed.

_-Flashback-_

"_We cannot start the invasion until after Gaara has fought that blond boy." The jonin from suna stated grimly. "If we do Gaara will not fight, he will directly go after the blond and ignore the plan, I don't know why but he is obsessed. He will not participate in the invasion until he beats that boy."_

_Kabuto frowned, "are you certain? I suspected that he may be a mild distraction but I never thought that Naruto would pose any threat to the plan, he is just a genin."_

"_That may be but Gaara wants to fight him, he refuses to even think about anything else until that battle is over. Unless that boy is beaten early Gaara will fight him."_

"_I see; then I will tell Orochiaru-sama to postpone the invasion plan a little while."_

_-Flashback End-_

Now the snake summoner was worried, he had never gotten to see the Kyuubi jinchuriki in battle before now and he was getting nervous. He was stronger than anticipated, he was too strong. He was a threat to the plan, if he beat Gaara then not only would their greatest weapon be rendered useless but the suna forces would be demoralized and might even pull out and align with Konoha instead!

-XXX-

Naruto walked to the middle of the arena and spoke, "proctor do you mind if I take a moment to change into proper battle attire?"

The proctor simply blinked, he looked at Naruto's standard grey pants similar to those worn by most jonin, his black t-shirt and dark orange jacket. _(Same jacket as in cannon but it's darker)_

"I don't see what you mean, but alright. Just don't take too long." He said offhandedly, "your opponent can use the time to prepare as well."

Naruto grinned and limply took a few steps away and took off his jacket soon followed by his shirt, he then bit his thumb and pressed the blood to a tattoo on his left shoulder causing a large burst of smoke to form.

As the smoke cleared Naruto was seen standing beside a table covered in various tools and supplies. At some point he had changed his clothes and was now dressed in a pair of loose pants that were strapped down tightly on the shins to allow for maximum maneuverability, he wore a tight black shirt with no sleeves. To the surprise of most of the observers he removed his Hitai-ate and placed it on the table next to some kunai before picking up a different one. This Hitai-ate was adorned by a symbol like three diagonal slashes, and had an especially long black cloth. Finally he lifted and put on a long, orange trench coat and strapped it down with a leather belt that held his sword horizontally across his lower back.

Finally he dismissed his tool bench and walked back to the center of the arena.

"Are you sure this is combat gear? You don't even have any kunai or shuriken, and that coat is much bulkier than the other one." The proctor had to hold back his chuckle; he knew that the boy had probably chosen the coat because it made him look like the youndaime hokage.

Naruto glanced at the man then down at his clothing before grabbing the left sleeve of his coat and tearing it off at the shoulder. He then did the same to the right sleeve and began to stretch while talking. "This coat looks bulky but it isn't, it is custom made of silk to be lighter and to catch kunai and shuriken that are thrown at me so that they can be removed easier, also the other coat contains weights for training my arms, the same for that other pair of pants. This coat also has several hidden pockets to store kunai and shuriken; however I have not filled these pockets because against Gaara they would be useless. Also I like this coat better."

With this said Naruto clearly felt that he had explained his choice fully.

"Alright then let's get this fight started." The proctor immediately ran for his life.

-XXX-

"Why the hell is that dobe dressed like that? There is no point in such a long coat!" Sasuke was still quite thoroughly pissed at having been dragged out of the arena by his sensei.

"He is playing for the crowd," Kakashi had a tone of amusement in his voice, "he is trying to get the crowd on his side by following his father's footsteps. This is a serious gamble though, if he wins like that he will be remembered by the audience and his chances of becoming a chunin are higher. However if he loses he will inspire others to think that Sunagakure is stronger than Konoha."

The genin in the nearby seats nodded in understanding, Naruto was going to cement his performance in the minds of anybody watching.

"That is the youndaime's look." Sasuke commented.

"Oh that's right, Sasuke-kun you were late. After Naruto completely wiped the floor with Neji, the Sandaime announced that Naruto is the youndaime's son and his heritage was hidden to protect him from his father's enemies." Sakura explained in her best lecture voice.

-XXX-

"Finally a worthy opponent, I will destroy you and prove my existence!" Gaara's face broke into a massive bloodthirsty grin.

His blond opponent simply sighed, "Do you remember what I said back at the hospital?"

Gaara looked at him with confused look. The blond demon container didn't look at him; his eyes were closed as he leaned back. "You are weak; I can see it in your eyes. You are like a candle trapped in a whirlpool. You control the sand around you as the perfect defense to isolate yourself from everything around you because you are afraid that a light breeze will snuff out the weak flame of your existence."

Gaara was at a loss for words, he found himself remembering his childhood when his sand had protected him from all attacks and even human contact.

Naruto was oblivious to Gaara's reaction to his words and simply kept talking; a small smirk appearing on his face. "I know what you have gone through, we are the same. The hate-filled stares, the quiet muttering behind your back when they think you can't hear; but nothing is worse then when you are ignored. When no one wants to recognize your existence, it is the most painful wound you could ever experience. But that is where we are different Gaara. We each sought a way to gain recognition. At first I started to pull pranks and wear bright colors, I felt that I could force others to pay attention to me but that was a mistake. No when I was ten I realized something, I don't care how they see me, I don't care how they acknowledge me just as long as they do. Much like you I imagine I realized that if I couldn't make others love me then I would make them fear me! You have coped with your loneliness by killing all who oppose you and striking fear into the hearts of those around you but I have found a better source of recognition."

He grinned widely as he turned to face Gaara. "I will make them fear me, hate me, despise me! As long as they hate me they know that I exist and they know that there is nothing they can do about it!" at this point he was yelling in a psychotic voice that sent shivers down everyone's spines. "I was just a student in the academy when I accidentally hit one of my teachers in the face with a chalkboard eraser, and then I saw it in his eyes. He didn't hate the object of the village gossip, he hated me! He hated not what I stood for but me, he hated my existence with every fiber of his being and in doing so he admitted that I exist!"

A strange alien glee filled his voice, the majority or the audience was horrified, what kind of life had this poor child gone through? What kind of life would a child have to live before he began to crave hatred, just to be noticed?

However Naruto seemed oblivious to the crowds discomfort and just kept talking, his voice growing louder and higher in pitch as he spoke. "For two years I did everything in my power to make his hatred grow, I dropped paint bombs, I broke his windows, and I even tossed shuriken at him during practice and made it look like an accident! But then it happened." He seemed to grow sad and regretful all of a sudden. "He revealed himself to be a traitor, he committed treason against this village mere hours after I was made a genin. Of course I had no choice in the matter; the punishment for treason is always death. I did not realize until several hours latter that without Mizuki, I had no proof of my existence. I had no real proof."

He again seemed to cheer up as he said, "Lady Luck must have a thing for me though, the very next day I was placed on the same team with the biggest two losers in all of konoha!" he laughed uproariously. "It was not long that I realized that I didn't need that stupid chunin to prove my existence. With every mission I took I made it a point to get a good reaction from those around me, I shocked the hokage's assistants by completing multiple d rank missions at once, I upstaged the snobby Uchiha and I struck terror into the hearts of my enemies with every battle I fought in! I surrounded my self in the dead and mangled bodies of my foes but always left at least one alive so that I could see the terror in his eyes and let him spread exaggerated stories of my cruelty. I prove my existence with every step I take, I can see the acknowledgement in the eyes of those around me, and even now I see it in your eyes! FEAR!" his feral grin grew even larger as a corrupt dark energy began to pour off of him in waves.

Gaara frowned, yes he felt fear but it did not make his blood run cold. He felt fear but it only made him want to fight harder. "It is unfortunate how life has turned out for us. You and I stand on opposite sides of a conflict, and at the end of this battle one of us must die for the sake of our villages."

"I am not wearing the sign of any village." Naruto's remark made the entire arena break out into whispers only to be silenced by Gaara's response. "Then I shall enjoy this fight a lot more."

Naruto smirked back at him, "I doubt that somehow."

**-XXX-**

**I wanted to make this longer and incorporate the actual fight but I just couldn't shake the feeling that this was the right place to stop.**

**I will try to have my next chapter up by next Monday.**

**Also to apologize for my lateness in updating; here are some things that you can look forward to in the future of my story:**

**-xxx-**

**- Hinata gets a confidence boost**

**- Sasuke gets beaten to a pulp**

**- Lee takes fashion lessons**

**- Haku takes manliness lessons**

**- Gaara goes on a date…willingly!**

**- Gaara reveals his secret hobby**

**- Naruto publishes a book…and then another**

**Well this is all I'm going to tell you for now at least**


	18. Battle of Demons: as observed by mortals

**True Jinchuriki**

**Chapter 17**

**Battle of Demons, as observed by foolish mortals**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto, I would make him smarter or at least more powerful. If anything I would rather that the main character was Shikamaru or lee.**

**There has been something gnawing at my mind since last spring; I have come up with a good story idea, one that I have been planning a lot but haven't had time to actually write down. I really want to write it but I can barely keep my two stories updating as things are so I will probably wait until the summer to start of it.**

-XXX-

"Alright let the battle between Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure no Sato and Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto from Konohagakure no Sato, begin!" the proctor vanished in a puff of smoke.

As soon as the proctor gave the go ahead, the ground began to crack and a shockingly large amount of sand burst from the cracks.

Gaara gestured with his hand and the sand flew towards his opponent.

-XXX-

Kakashi paled considerably, that was a lot more sand than he had seen Gaara control before.

"To think, that all this time he had such a powerful ability, even during the preliminaries. I never stood a chance." Lee's voice was surprisingly quiet. Next to him the rooky nine sat in dumb shock at the magnitude of the sand ninja's power.

-XXX-

Naruto dodged the first blast of sand and dashed towards his opponent, displaying an impressive level of speed. He neared Gaara's shield of sand and threw a punch.

The sand came to defend, and in the stands Sasuke scoffed. He was faster than that, and he hadn't gotten through, did that dobe really thing that he could really get past that sand with his inferior skills?

He got his answer when Naruto's fist went through the hardened wall of sand and struck Gaara across the jaw.

The crowd gasped at the show of pure power.

Gaara jumped back and touched the spot he had been punched. Then a psychotic gleam appeared in his eye.

With a roar he launched wave after wave at his opponent who just barely dodged the attacks.

Naruto charged again but this time the sand suddenly shifted and shot upward around him, trapping him in a cocoon of sand. "**Sabaku Kyu**!" Gaara's extended hand clenched into a fist, "**Sabaku Souso**!"

There were cries of horror from the crowd as the sand crushed inward and blood began to drip from the cocoon.

-XXX-

Kakashi was in a state of shock, there was no way that Naruto would let himself be beaten so easily, he had defeated plenty of strong opponents. So what did this mean? He turned to look to his left. An entire section of the stands had been marked off as Naruto's personal cheering area; it contained plenty of people who the boy had helped at some time during one of his missions.

That's when he noticed it, Naruto's allies weren't mourning his passing, and they weren't outraged by his loss. They were…putting up defenses?

Haku's ice had risen in a thin sheet between Naruto's supporters and the arena, Yugito was controlling some kind of tiny balls of blue flame as they danced around the outside of the section. Finally Zabuza began the hand signs for a summoning technique.

Kakashi's eye widened in understanding and a little bit of terror. "Guys, I think we should get behind that ice screen."

-XXX-

As the sand fell back to the ground a chuckle broke through the confusion of the arena. Then another, finally the chuckles escalated to an insane laughter. From the bloody sand rose a single mangled shape. As the audience watched in morbid fascination the battered body in front of them began to regenerate. The bones snapping back into place with sickening pops and cracks. The flesh seamed to boil and thick steam began to rise from the body. The laughter faded away and the figure straightened up to its full height.

"Well that was an interesting experience." Naruto grinned viciously, "my turn."

-XXX-

Kakashi and his fellow jounin instructors shuffled their teams quickly behind the protective barrier of ice. A large, blue serpentine dragon wrapped around the area for additional protection.

"Why do we have to move back here sensei, we had such good seats back there!" Sakura wined loudly.

"Troublesome girl, don't you feel that aura? This battle is about to go to a whole new level." Shikamaru commented in a tired voice.

-XXX-

Shikamaru's words proved true as a torrent of crimson flame burst from Naruto's body, the flames swirled and twisted in the air forming a tower of horrifying red energy.

The feeling of bloodlust spread through the entire arena, driving many people to soil themselves.

Still bathed in the brilliant energy the young demon container launched himself towards his opponent with even greater speed than before. The sand rose to block his attack but he simply slashed through it with his sword; the crimson charka around the blade pulsing brightly and causing the sand to be repelled outward.

More sand rose from the ground around his feet but he was no longer there. Gaara wracked his brain for a plan; this boy was much more dangerous than any opponent he had faced before.

In the stands Sasuke stared in amazement at the power that radiated off of his teammate. This strength, this amazing aura of power was incredible. Where did he get such power? Why did that stupid dropout have such power while he didn't?

A stray tendril of sand nearly struck the stands but one of Yugito's fireballs suddenly veered off course and intercepted the attack, crystallizing the sand instantly. Kakashi gave a low whistle, this area of the stands was very well defended, he had seen Haku's ice in action once before and he knew that it was some solid stuff, and those fireballs seemed to destroy anything that came near them, a very impressive combination, and then there was still a powerful summon of some kind. "I see Naruto has spent no expense on making sure that his supporters are well cared for." He commented as he bought a steaming bowl of ramen from the middle aged cook who had set up shop in the stands.

"A most youthful gesture; Naruto-kun is certainly most thoughtful when it comes to his allies! Even after the terrible treatment he has received all his life!" For once Kakashi found himself fully in agreement with one of Gai's outlandish exclamations.

Back on the arena floor Naruto was moving like a monkey on crack. He hopped and rolled out of the way of the sand attacks while grinning the whole time.

Gaara forced more chakra into his sand, the superior control granted by the additional chakra allowed him to keep up with his opponent for a moment, just enough for one hit.

The strike knocked the blond demon container into the air but he recovered quickly. A shocking amount of energy gathered around his left hand and formed a boiling crimson claw. With a swift motion he launched the claw forward stretching it far past the length of his arm to latch onto the ground and then pull him towards it.

People gasped, it seemed as though close range attacks weren't all he was good at.

Naruto grinned wider and made a single hand sign. Eight clones phased into existence all around him.

-XXX-

"He knows Kage Bushin?" Kurenai asked with some surprise.

"He's always full of surprises; I have seen him fight against jounin on even terms before. He didn't quite win but he was close. And that is without 'that power'." Kakashi commented proudly, "he really is sensei's son."

Kurenai looked at him with surprise, she had suspected that he was stronger than he let on but to fight toe to toe with a jounin was far beyond what she had expected.

Kakashi continued, "I can't even imagine how hard he must have trained himself to get to this level." Nearby, Gai and Lee seemed to burst into flames with their eyes glowing with fierce determination.

-XXX-

Gaara was getting nervous, he had been having enough trouble with only one Naruto but now he had to face nine! To make matters worse the clones were working together like a well oiled machine; defending each other and striking at any weak point that appeared due to his attacks.

Naruto evaded another tendril of sand and launched a charka claw at Gaara's face. The boy dodged but was thrown off balance just long enough for another Naruto to strike him with a kunai. Gaara's sand armor held under the blow and he countered by sending a wave of sand outwards from himself, dispelling the clones. However he was thrown backwards by a blast of pure power that originated ahead of him.

Gaara back flipped and landed on his feet while launching his **Suna Shuriken** at the source of the last attack.

Naruto deflected the flying spikes of sand with his clawed hand and charged forward like a bullet.

The battle turned into a close range brawl for a moment before both fighters vanished and reappeared at opposite ends of the arena.

The observers were at the edge of their seats; this was the most exiting battle they had seen so far.

The ninja who were grading the chunin hopefuls frowned.

"This is ridiculous, they are so strong." One of them stated, "Is this really the chunin exams? This looks more like a jounin battle!"

"They aren't using any real strategy, just beating on one another again and again." His partner commented.

"They showed plenty in their previous matches." The first one countered, "Now they are just fighting, I don't think ether actually believes that he might lose this."

"No," the examiners turned to see an older man with long white hair and red lines on his face as if he was crying blood. "Gaara already knows that he will lose; but he is trying to deny it. He is like an animal that has been backed into a corner."

Back in the arena the two fighters stood still and stared at each other.

"Why did you stop?" Gaara's voice broke the silence.

"Now, now Gaara-san shouldn't you be happy that I am giving you a break? I just noticed that you were holding back against me." Naruto's grin turned vicious, "if you continue to do so you will die."

Everyone froze, that was holding back?

"I have not gotten enough time to activate 'that' without it this is my level."

"You have time now, I will wait." Naruto walked over to the wall and leaned on it.

In the stands many of the more experienced ninja had to stop themselves from hitting their heads on the nearest wall, how dumb do you have to be to let your enemy activate their most powerful technique?

Gaara said nothing while the sand rose around him forming a solid orb of sand.

Naruto leaned back and waited while the sand orb began to pulse. Suddenly the orb exploded sending sand flying everywhere and revealing Gaara's new form.

His right arm was incased in sand as was the right side of his face and torso, the sand shaped to form the features of a great demonic raccoon.

Naruto continued to watch as the sand expanded slowly covering Gaara's torso, head, and his left arm while simultaneously growing a tail of sand.

Naruto grinned and took a step away from the wall, "well now this is what I'm talking about." The thin sheet of crimson energy that swirled around him began to bubble and grow; a fox-like tail of charka formed behind him and began to move in a strange almost hypnotic pattern. Suddenly to the surprise of everyone present his hair began to turn red, and the whisker marks on his cheeks turned darker and thicker as his ears grew pointed and he hunched down onto all fours.

The two demonic ninja seemed to examine each other for a moment before charging.

The two traded blows at speeds too great for most of the audience to see. Their blows resonated through the arena causing the ground to crack and strong winds to knock off people's hats.

The Hokage watched in amusement as the man beside him held onto his hat like it was the only thing keeping him alive.

In the stands many people looked over the to the one section that wasn't being affected at all, the thin wall of ice stopped sand and wind from getting into the audiences eyes and the small balls of flame destroyed any of the rubble that was thrown up by the battle.

To add insult to injury the people in the 'safe zone' were sitting around laughing and eating various snacks that were being sold by a small group of vendors who didn't feel like leaving the region.

The council members were especially upset, not only were they not being served that well but the people in that section were all rooting for Konoha's resident demon!

Back in the arena the two competitors came together again in a violent display of strength; both caught each other's fists and were now struggling for control while dueling violently with their tails.

The battle seamed to stop for a moment as the tails moved back as though catching their breath. Suddenly however the crimson tail of translucent energy shifted and bulged before splitting into three then again into nine! Gaara's eyes grew wide as he jumped out of the way of the flailing tails which proceeded to tear apart the arena and launch large chunks of stone at the raccoon boy.

Gaara knocked them away with his tail and arms then took a deep breath and exhaled a blast of wind and sand.

Naruto's tails twisted around him in a shell of energy, then as the wind stopped the shell opened outwards going back into a series of tails.

Suddenly he was behind Gaara going through a series of hand signs, as he finished he took a deep breath and exhaled an orb of fire that filled a twenty foot radius;** Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!**

As the flames subsided (nearly three minutes latter) a molten blob of glass remained, there was nothing in the center.

-XXX-

Sasuke shook with barely suppressed rage, this freak knew his technique! That was his signature move! While it wasn't a secret technique it was his specialty, and now that loser was using it to greater effect than he himself ever did!

And that charka was insane! How could he have such a huge amount of charka, he was just some loser! A small voice appeared in the back of his head, saying that Naruto was the son of the youndaime who was a genius, but it was then overridden by another voice that argued that if he was really the son of the youndaime then he wouldn't have been treated the way that he was by the villagers. Surely they would have admired and honored the son of their greatest hero, the man who slew the great Kyuubi no Youko.

According to history the fourth had no family; therefore Naruto couldn't be his son. There was no way that that loser could be the Fourth's son, but how could he find out? "Kakashi-sensei, did you know the fourth personally?"

Kakashi never looked away from the arena, "he was my sensei. And adoptive father, after I was left an orphan he took me in and looked after me until I was old enough to look after my self. Why?" Kakashi's words startled most of the genin because they hadn't known of his connection with the greatest man in Konoha's history. The senseis were surprised by the fact that Kakashi had actually spoken that much.

"So you knew him well, then perhaps you can answer this, why were we told in the academy that he didn't have a family then?"

Kakashi looked straight at him, "there are many reasons; first he was a very private person, next his wife died in child birth. And lastly the council refused to admit that Naruto was the fourth's son, they hate him for reasons beyond his control and refuse to admit that he could possibly be related to the fourth. Many of them would refuse under oath to admit that he is even human." The last part was more or a bitter mutter but Sasuke heard it.

Sakura however didn't get the hint, "so does that mean that Naruto-baka really is youndaime-sama's son?" Sakura quickly became the target of several very angry stares.

"Sakura, why are you still calling him that; you have been on Naruto's team for several months and yet you still call him that. What are you delusional?" Sakura stared shocked at Ino, "he completely trashed Neji-senpai, and now he's fighting that sand guy evenly. That guy even beat Sasuke!"

Those around them looked at her oddly for a moment; all of a sudden a loud voice broke through the silence, "wow so she isn't a total idiot!" Kurenai looked over at the blond haired woman behind her. She was smirking slightly and wore mostly purple clothing with yellow trim; her blond hair was tied back in a braid. The most striking feature about her was her eyes. They were slanted and had slit pupils like the eyes of a cat.

"Yugito-san, please stay focused, they are about to go up another power level." Came a voice from near the front of the stands.

"Sure thing Haku-kun," she turned and walked back to her Position in the middle of the area she was protecting but not before giving Sakura a look of utter contempt.

-XXX-

Naruto stood calmly in the center of the arena, his tails having blended back into one, which swayed lazily behind him.

After a moment he suddenly jumped straight up as a claw of sand ripped out of the ground beneath his feet. Gaara's demonic form climbed out of the ground with a large smile on its strange inhuman face.

Naruto landed a short distance away and smiled back, "so how do you like it? Did you realize yet?"

Gaara's voice was strangely disfigured by his current form but he managed to speak, "the ability you used in your last fight, this is the same."

"Correct! The **Ryukawa no yoroi** was originally designed for this purpose! I created this technique recently so that I could channel greater amounts of demonic chakra through my body." The audience grew more confused, those who believed him to be a demon wondered as to why he couldn't channel chakra through his body, while others wondered what he meant by demonic chakra.

"This is the true power of the **Ryukawa no yoroi**, the power to grant me regenerative power and physical enhancements of the Kyuubi No Yoko!" Naruto grinned widely as he finished his statement, "just as that shell gives you the strength of Ichibi no Tanuki; Suna no Shukaku!"

In the crowd the jounin grew more nervous, they had heard legends of the battles between Jinchuriki that happened in the shinobi wars. There were still places in the world that no plants would grow and the landscape was scarred from such battles.

The two boys seemed to examine one another for a few more seconds before they launched themselves towards one another. Once more the stadium played host to a battle of titans where nether could come out on top. The two Jinchuriki fought with reckless power that destroyed anything and everything that seemed even close to getting in their way. Claws slashed, tails thrashed and the stadium was utterly trashed by their wild attacks.

Finally Naruto struck a blow to his opponent that wasn't interrupted; Gaara was thrown backwards into a large crater, throwing up dust. But as the audience sat in morbid fascination they heard a strange sound, like massive amounts of sand pouring over itself.

As the dust cleared a giant form rose from the shattered ground. The giant raccoon roared in rage as its paw came down on the whiskered youth. All throughout the stadium people sat frozen in fear of the monstrosity before them.

The raccoon raised one of its paws clutched into a fist and brought it towards its face. However before that he could do anything else an explosion of smoke burst from the closed paw and a glowing, shining, serpentine form rose towards the heavens, the serpentine form seemed to twist and wrap around itself in a mesmerizing pattern before it settled into the form of a massive dragon. (Think along the lines of dragonball Z; which I don't own ether)

The dragon's shining platinum scales shone in the bright sunlight and its golden long mane of hair blew in the wind, in its clawed hand it wielded a naginata of terrifying proportions that looked to be made of a single piece of molded silver. Adding to this image of majesty and splendor, was a certain young man, his ripped and tattered cloak was soaked in blood and his hair messier than ever but he stood proudly with his arms folded over his chest and his bloody mantel waving in the breeze (splattering some unfortunate audience members).

The ninja present could only gape in utter shock at how closely he resembled the fourth; even that aura that radiated off of him giving a sense of confidence and authority was the same. He looked calmly at the giant raccoon before him and began to speak.

"How have you been Ryuujin? I apologize for summoning you unexpectedly like this but I appear to have bitten off a chunk that was a bit too big for me to chew…of course then I remembered those huge teeth of yours." He smirked slightly at his own joke.

"**I see what you mean, so tell me how do you want this one? Dead of alive." **The massive reptile's voice seemed to remind many of the third, it was filled with wisdom and age but there was an undercurrent of amusement that permeated the air.

"I mentioned this one when we last spoke, he is one of those who I have targeted but I doubt that he would come peacefully." Naruto's voice was to quiet for those in the stands to hear but the great dragon nodded slightly. **"Very well, then it is time for a battle. I have not had a good fight in over a hundred years."**

The two great beasts launched themselves at one another, the naginata came down on the raccoons shoulder and Shukaku's claws went straight for the dragon's head, only to be stopped by a small crimson form. "I hope you didn't forget me, Gaara; don't think that Ryuujin is your only foe right now"

The two behemoths separated one more as Gaara worked quickly to reform the lost chunk of his shoulder. And again the two giants clashed naginata and claws met in the middle and sprang apart only for the two tails to meet and duel for dominance until they two separated. Gaara's sand body gathered wind and launched a swirling orb of wind only to be met with the dragon's own technique. The king of dragons took a deep breath and pulled his head back before launching it forward and releasing a blast of searing flames, **"Ryuuka!"** (dragon fire) the two attacks met with a devastating explosion, that was sent back at the giant raccoon, causing much of it's body to melt under the intense heat, the glassy form shattered and the sand began to reform, but Naruto would have none of that, he launched himself from his perch on Ryuujin's head and launched the most devastating attack in his arsenal, the intense amounts of chakra he gathered were collected in his mouth before being launched directly at his opponent. The wave of crimson energy that ripped across the arena shattered what little control Gaara still had over his sand, the chakra used to animate it was overwhelmed and dispersed leaving him exhausted and out of power.

Gaara looked up at his opponent, he had lost. The boy in front of him had overwhelmed him in a contest of pure power. He did not feel outrage or fear; only a kind of numbness.

"How, how are you so much stronger than me?" his question was not loud, it was not a demand just a question. He looked at the one who had beaten him and tried to find the one thing that made him so strong.

Naruto looked back at him, "do you have dreams, ambitions, goals? Do you seek something that you don't have? Have you ever truly fought for a reason besides bloodlust? If you have no true reason to grow stronger then you never will. If your goal in life is to kill then you will grow more powerful to a degree and then you will die. To grow strong you need a true goal, a goal that you cannot reach without changing everything about yourself."

"Goals you say? I am a weapon for my village just as you are for yours; there is no place in such an existence for personal goals."

"I am nobody's weapon!" Naruto's voice was colder than the frozen north in the winter. "I will not bow to some fools who will not see me for who I am. That is why I formed the dragon's teeth." Naruto's voice grew softer at the end, and he simply hopped off of Ryuujin's head (who then disappeared into smoke) and onto the ground (from over twenty meters, straight up) he walked slowly towards his opponent.

"These dragon's teeth then are part of your goals." Gaara continued his questions.

"The dragon's teeth are a tool, a weapon against my foes and a shield for my allies. They are those who have seen pain and suffering far beyond what most humans can comprehend. They are those who have felt the pain of loss and betrayal, and have grown strong because of it. The dragon's teeth are warriors who will not allow any other to experience the same life that they have lived, as long as we still have life in our limbs we will fight to protect those who deserve it." Naruto's eyes shone with an inner flame and as he walked closer with each word spoken, until he stood over his foe. "Will you join us?" he reached out a hand, an offer of friendship that Gaara had never before received.

"You would accept one such as me? A demon that killed his own mother and uncle; who killed dozens of ninja from his own village, without second thought." Gaara's incredulous words seemed to echo in the silent arena.

"So what if you killed a few ninja from your village, that is the fate of us Jinchuriki. We always end up getting betrayed, lied to, attacked and otherwise assaulted by our supposed comrades." Naruto's laugh sent shivers through the crowds yet again. One thought was on everyone's mind, this kid is really messed up.

"So tell me Gaara, will you join us? Will you become that which the people of this world fear most of all? Will you fight to protect those who are hated and mistreated from their tormentors?" Naruto's words seemed to strike a cord in some people, did he really think so lowly of those around him? Were all people just vicious monsters who consume their own if they find even a shred of weakness in his eyes? The answer was beyond a doubt yes. "so what do you say, will you continue to live as a weapon for a bunch of fools who consider you to be nothing more than an unstable weapon, to be used and then destroyed to prevent it from turning on them? Or will you join us and forge your own path."

"if I protect those weaker than me like you say…" he trailed of for a moment, "…will they love me?" gaara's words were too quiet for anyone but Naruto to hear.

"I can promise you nothing, only respect and friendship. Maybe they will, not all I am sure of that, but there will be those who will, at least a little."

"I will accept it then, I will join you." With these words he reached out a battered hand and clasped the offered one.

Naruto pulled him to his feet and retracted his hand, drawing a fang shaped necklace from inside his coat and offering it to his newest ally.

**-XXX-**

**Well that is this chapter for you, as many of you have surely noticed I have been updating…rarely. Well the fact is I have been running into problems with my story, Naruto is strong…too strong. I will not change this but I suspect that I will change the focus of the story more to his allies and friends.**

**Basically he will take a more supportive role in the story, as a leader and superior and not as the primary fighter. Essentially he will let his underling do most of the work and only step in when the enemy is someone really powerful; don't worry however he will still fight a bit and this won't happen until after the retrieval arch.**

**I was originally going to incorporate a long speech by Naruto about the origins of Jinchuriki and the cause of the tailed beasts' bloodlust but I couldn't fit it in.**

**If you ask for it nicely I could add it at in the end note of one of my latter chapters or maybe I will find a place for it in my story.**

**I think I will keep putting little ideas at the end of my chapters for the fun of it, or adding some hind of mini stories.**


	19. Lambs to the Slaughter

**True Jinchuriki**

**Chapter 18**

**Let us drink to the Slaughter**

**Disclaimer: I think the fact that this Naruto is a violent; slightly Emo warrior (instead of a walking traffic cone) is proof enough that this is a fan fiction.**

**People keep sending me reviews with criticism for my polls. So I have a message for you all: those polls were done a year ago. They were done that way because I had not actually written a plot for this story, some are still valid but others are now null.**

**Also, for those of you who actually care, I have decided that Naruto will end up with ether the improved Hinata, or Yugito (the pyromaniac Cat woman)**

**The remaining girl will be paired with Lee**

**This is where the story actually diverges…or rather where it begins to really diverge, the final split will come half way through the retrieval arch.**

-XXX-

Gaara's hand reached out and took the amulet that was offered to him, and before the entire stadium he placed it around his neck.

There were few who did not recognize the significance of this action. Temari and Kankuro both shivered slightly and cast a nervous glance to each other. Their teacher, Baki swore under his breath.

Across the arena in the kage box a man in white clothing with blue markings shivered, and glanced around nervously. Beside him a man in similar clothing with red markings grinned widely and called one of his ninja over to give him instructions.

Meanwhile in the stands a girl with pink hair turned to her sensei and asked, "What's going on Sensei? What's with the dumb looking necklace?" she failed to notice the dark looks she received from several particularly powerful ninja wearing such neck wear.

Her teacher didn't even spare her a glance as he answered. "It's a symbol, belonging to a small ninja organization, a small but powerful one."

"Powerful?" Sasuke reacted to that word like a cat to catnip. 'Is that how he gained his power? I must locate this group!'

Kakashi nodded in response, "certainly powerful, I doubt that anyone will doubt their power after today, a group containing three Jinchuriki, and two A-class missing ninja. I believe he said there were others he was planning to recruit soon."

Sasuke took this to mean that this group was going to come begging him to join shortly.

-XXX-

Outside the village the invading armies witnessed the brief appearance of a giant raccoon made of sand followed by something serpentine.

From a distance it was not easy to tell what it was but they didn't want to take any chances of not coming to their leader's aid.

-XXX-

An explosion announced the arrival of the invasion force, their serpents and ninja poured over the walls to attack the village, only to be crushed.

A white haired old man stood on the back of a particularly large toad and surveyed the battle field; it was a good thing he had been here early to stop the enemies from getting too deep into the village.

-XXX-

In the arena the proctor called for the battle between Temari and Shino. Temari was shaken, really shaken when she came to the battle field.

She started as usual with a gust of wind only for her opponent to be blown into the bushes and not come out.

Silence reigned in the arena, a great deal of observers just stared at the anticlimactic finish.

Temari stood dumbfounded for several minutes, until she fell forward onto her face.

The crowd gasped as they saw the large black mass that was covering her back.

Shino rose from the bushes and walked slowly into the center of the arena, "I sent nearly all of my insects to sneak through the rubble to drain her charka. It is likely that I should have been more cautious. It was fortunate that she was too distracted to notice my maneuver." He spoke thoughtfully. Afterwards he turned to leave.

The proctor called for him to wait and battle for the championship only for him to continue walking as he simply responded, "I have no wish to be killed in a pointless battle." He continued walking only stopping to give Naruto a small nod. "Well fought Naruto-san."

Naruto nodded in return and proceeded to walk to the center of the arena, his bloody cloak billowing in the wind. His every step was followed by the entire arena.

As he finally entered the center he glanced over at the proctor, "so do I pass?"

The proctor spun so fast that his neck gave an audible crack. He found himself staring at another Naruto. The crowd stared, when had he done it? No one had noticed him switch places with a clone.

The proctor shrugged, regaining his composure. "I ain't the one deciding who graduates. That would be the council."

Naruto sighed, and there went his chances of getting onto a different team. As much as he liked messing with the unstable Uchiha, he hated being stuck on a team with those losers even more.

He turned and began walking away, there were things to do and people to kill. Just as he was mussing about his plans for the future, an explosion shook the entire stadium.

Within moments feathers began to fall.

-XXX-

Orochimaru cursed silently as he realized that his forces outside the gates had begun the invasion without the signal.

Without the sand demon they had no chance to destroy this village and to make matters worse, that brat still looked fresh. Well at least he could still get the old man.

-XXX-

In the tunnel systems behind the stone faces the academy students looked around nervously, something was happening and the teachers were on edge.

Iruka was taking attendance when he noticed it, Konahamaru wasn't there.

-XXX-

Across the village invaders found a level of resistance far greater than anticipated. Leaf ninja seamed to appear out of every shadow, every building, and one even popped out of a barrel of apples!

Three sound chunin were chasing a girl down the street when the legendary copy ninja stepped out of a bookstore. Needless to say that it was a quick battle.

Some ninja had entered the Hyuuga compound only to be met by a Mummy. The mummy stumbled a little then began to pummel them with Juuken. Finally some of the more skilled ninja gathered their thoughts and prepared to attack only to be met by a large number of branch house members. A man with long black hair and majestic white robes walked out of the shadows of a building. "Good work Neji, however you should be resting from your match." The now identified mummy nodded before stumbling back and collapsing into the ready arms of another clan member.

_(Coming soon to theaters near you; The Mummy Returns again! How many times has that damn thing risen from the dead now?)_

The attackers gulped slightly, this did not look promising.

In the Inuzuka compound the clan head laughed loudly as a group of sound ninja were chased around the yard by a small army of puppies.

In the Aburame compound Aburame Shibi made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat as he looked at the remains of several enemy ninja who had made the mistake of entering the Aburame bug gardens. They had been completely torn apart by a multitude of various insects that lived there.

The Ino-Shika-Cho formation moved through the streets eliminating enemies left and right while chatting about local gossip.

In the Uchiha compound Uchiha Sasuke backed up into a corner after using up way to much charka on trying to fight of a larger group of more experienced enemy ninja. He was about to try a daring attempt to kill them that would have probably lead to his death when two of the five ninja fell to the ground dead. There were kunai sticking out of the back of their necks.

Both Uchiha and invaders turned to see a peculiar sight of a grey haired ninja wearing his forehead protector over his eye with a woman hanging off of his left arm with stars in her eyes as she gazed up at him.

The ninja were about to counterattack when a loud noise distracted them, then a large flying projectile launched them all into a wall. "DYNAMIC ENTERY," the three men moaned pitifully as the green beast stood on top of them giving he rival a thumbs up, "it seams that I have out done you again my honorable rival." He cried exuberantly.

Meanwhile in the arena a group of invading ninja made a crucial mistake. They underestimated a samurai. With a loud, wet splat three severed arms and a head struck the ground. The middle aged man with wiry muscles and his hair into a high ponytail sheathed his sword and proceeded to walk towards the next pocket of enemy resistance.

Sakura screamed and ducked as two sand village ninja lunged in her direction only o be cut down by a young samurai in fine clothing. He wiped the blood off of his sword and turned towards the genin behind him, "do not worry, my sensei and the rest of our allies will not allow them to kill anyone under our protection." He turned to continue fighting the enemies only to be interrupted. "Hey, don't look down on us just 'because we are younger than you, we have been trained to kill, not sit around and be protected." A girl with brown hair in twin buns declared loudly as she whipped a spear through the torso of an attacking sound ninja.

"Very well," he smiled at her, "we shall fight together." She grinned, "I bet I can kill more than you!" she challenged loudly, he grinned in response, "sensei taught me to never turn down a challenge."

They ripped into the attacking forces of ninja with grins on their faces as a spandex clan young man yelled after them, "oh how I wish that I might join in you most youthful competition!"

"Just sit tight and recover lee, then you'll be fighting enemies in no time." She said just before she was saved from an attacker by a well thrown crutch. Judging by the wet crunching noise the crutch must have broken the man's nose. After finishing him, she tossed it back to her teammate with a quick thank you.

Down farther in the stands two men with their swords drawn faced a group of enemy chunin, the elder of the two was completely bald with a small grey mustache, and his entire posture spoke of a veteran of many battles. Beside him stood a young man with thick black hair and loose clothing; his posture and attitude was a sure sign of recklessness and inexperience. He grinned and loudly challenged his ally, "you should stand back old man, it wouldn't do well to set off your arthritis!" the other man grinned equally wide and responded, "really you should learn some respect you brat, I doubt that you could hit the broad side of a barn with your sloppy swings."

The two drew their swords and entered a stance, "let's show those cowards what a true samurai can do!" the younger one declared, "Just don't slow me down old man."

"Just remember that I'm not going to come save your sorry ass if you can't pull your own weight, brat."

-XXX-

All throughout the village similar scenes played out as the attacking forces quickly came to the realization that their enemies were far better prepared than they expected.

As they attempted to regroup around the main gate the attackers tried o figure out what went wrong, this proved to be an error as several moments after they arrived, the area was engulfed in flame.

Yugito Nii surveyed her work with a grin and turned to the next target, a group of sand ninja who were trying to regroup in a small, dark ally.

-XXX-

In the forest of death a small contingent of particularly expendable ninja ran from a large collection of various wild animals.

-XXX-

Above the Kage's box a large violet barrier of force blocked of all others from interfering in the battle between the two village leaders.

However as the snake charmer started to summon some backup an additional figure within the box gasped.

In a desperate attempt to even the odds he did something that was both reckless and absolutely ingenious!

Silently drawing out the scroll that he had been given, only a couple days ago; he swiped blood on the seal and forced all of his charka into that one technique.

The others in and around the box stared in shock as the small boy appeared from under one of the roof tiles _(a hiding place that was way too small to actually work) _and perform a summoning technique.

_-Flashback-_

"_Now remember you three, something big is going to happen during the exam and I want you to be prepared. These scrolls are a one time only summoning contract." The blond haired genin explained, "They are often used by powerful ninja to give their underlings some extra power in a fight."_

"_Wow sempai, are you sure you want to trust us with something like this." The only girl in the group asked with wide eyes._

"_If anything happens that puts you in danger don't hesitate to use them." His voice was firm on this topic._

_-Flashback End-_

"Please listen to me, Shiryuu!" Konahamaru's voice was barely heard as the large explosion of smoke filled the box.

As the smoke cleared a large serpentine form could be seen, it had pitch black scales and white markings on its snout. It was roughly twice the size of a human and bore a scythe in its right claw.

The dragon was not nearly as big as most powerful summons but there was definitely something about it that spoke of age and experience. The reptilian head turned towards the boy who was now panting on the ground; "you summoned me? Why?"

"N-Naruto sensei said you were able to fight the living dead…" he said between gasps and pointed towards the first and second hokage which had risen from the coffins.

Shiryuu was an old dragon; far more powerful than most but his form was small and weak. There was a way he could summon his true form but that required a lot of energy that he didn't have access to. Glancing at his opponents he was concerned, there was no way to protect this child from the enemy as long as those creatures still remained but the only way to defeat them would place his charge's life in danger… but some chance was better than none.

"Boy, what is your name?"

The child stared at him in surprise then muttered a stuttering reply.

"I see, Konohamaru, you seek to destroy those creatures but in this form my power is limited, there is a way for me to unleash my power but it could be dangerous. Would you still do it?"

"To help grandpa, I would do anything." There was no doubt in his voice; it made the dragon want to smile (not that these mammals would be able to tell).

"Would you give up your right arm for that power?" that was a question that had turned many men away from him, and yet it was a mere hatchling that had the courage to simply stick out his arm and give him a challenging glare.

The dragon just bared its teeth as the Anbu watched helplessly as it brought down its scythe.

The box was filled with smoke for only a moment before a massive serpentine form with black and white scales and saber-like claws rose from the obstructive smoke… a dragon that was more than sixty feet long and coiled around itself in a nearly hypnotic pattern floated just above the unconscious form of a child.

Before the horrified eyes of the Anbu, the Hokage and Orochimaru the massive reptile struck forward with its claws tearing through the forms of both undead ninja and pulled its claws back as though holding something. Then it spoke in a deep voice that seemed to echo from all directions, "you are brave hatchling, we will meet again." And with that it vanished into smoke as the two zombified men collapsed into a pile of ashes.

-XXX-

Elsewhere in the village a small group of sand village ninja had met up with the Kazekage's children, or at least two of the three.

"Where is Gaara? We need his help with this attack! We are being slaughtered." The jonin in the group declared.

"Gaara isn't coming, he lost the match."

This certainly wasn't what the ninja had been expecting.

"It gets worse; Konoha is working with a small organization of ninja that have an impressive background."

The jonin looked decidedly cautious as he asked, "what organization."

"They call themselves the dragon's teeth, all of them wear some kind of metal pendent that looks like a fang. We know of only four members but they are a powerful group. Two of them are Jinchuriki and the others are A-Class rouge ninja from the mist."

Some of the other ninja swore.

"Who beat Gaara?" it was question that they had been expecting.

"A member of this group…Namikaze Naruto, the Youndaime Hokage's son and container of the Kyuubi no Youko." This time the entire group swore.

"What happened after?"

"Temari got beaten by the Aburame guy, during the next match and he surrendered from fighting Namikaze. The guys still looks fresh." Kankuro's explanation got him a dirty look from his sister who still seemed to be quite winded.

"It figures, most Jinchuriki have ridiculous stamina and endurance. But the thing that you got to remember is that they are still human, chances are he was just acting tough to mask his own exhaustion. You still haven't explained where Gaara is." The leader of the group said thoughtfully.

"The dragon's teeth asked him to join, he accepted."

The ninja groaned and finally asked the main question. "Where is the Kazekage?"

"We haven't seen him."

The other ninja exchanged glances, then stood straighter and turned towards the outer walls, "this invasion was a bad idea we should withdraw. We don't even know if our leader is still alive." The jonin said.

"Yeah, that's probably the best plan right now." The entire group drew weapons and turned towards the sound.

"The Kazekage is probably dead, the one who was next to the Hokage appears to be Orochimaru. I don't know what he did to your superior but it's not likely that he will be showing up on the front lines any time soon." The blond girl said lightly, ignoring the knives and swords pointed at her.

After a tense moment of waiting the newcomer made no threatening gestures, though the ninja did notice the pendant around her neck and gulp slightly.

"And why should we trust you?" it was the jonin leader again who spoke first.

"I never asked you to trust me, but if you try fight me I will kill you." The statement was punctuated by violet flames appearing around her hands.

The group stepped back unsure of what they were facing, "Kankuro-san, Temari-san who is she?"

"Not totally sure but I think she may be the rouge Jinchuriki from the cloud," Was the response.

The group tensed even more.

She just smirked at them, "I do hope you plan to continue fighting, I really want to burn something."

The group just took another step back.

-XXX-

Back in the arena in the medical ward for injured competitors two other Jinchuriki were sipping sake while sitting on a pair of hospital beds.

"It is strange, but Shukaku seems very quiet right now." Gaara commented thoughtfully.

"Not really, how did you think he got the name Shukaku (drunkard) to begin with?" Naruto commented with a slight slur to his words.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you to be drunk at a time like this?"

"I ain't drunk… I choose to be slightly impaired to dull the pain in my ribs." Naruto slurred in response. "healing really fast may be my specialty but knittin' bones together in a couple of seconds is kinda' painful."

Gaara smirked, "in other words you were showing off, and now you are in pain."

"You got it, but of course the point was to freak **you **out." Naruto's grin was bigger than ever. "The rest of the crowd was just a bonus… though I will admit I hadn't planned on spouting off a monologue when I went in there… guess the dam just broke from all the adrenalin."

"Yeah, I know how that feels. One second you are as calm and collected as ever and all of a sudden you're screaming your head off."

The two boys just sat there for several minutes more as the sound of fighting came from all around them.

At one point some sound ninja thought to attack them because they were clearly injured; he didn't last long.

Eventually they got up and headed for the door, this battle had gone on long enough.

**-XXX-**

**Sorry about the lack of updates in approximately… 4 months?**

**Yeah I have more ideas for fan fiction than I can write and I have a lot of school work too so I really can't seem to focus on my writing lately. Anyways I am hoping that with this major part done I can get down to some business but I won't promise anything.**

**Here are some fanfic ideas that I came up with but will probably not actually end up writing, anyone is welcome to write them as long as you send me a PM of a review to tell me about them so I can actually read them.**

**Crossover: Naruto / Castlevania**_**: Naruto is part of a ninja clan that gains power by consuming the souls of enemies they kill; this is based off of the spell system in Aria of Sorrow. (I actually have a lot of ideas for this one so I may write it eventually)**_

**Crossover: Naruto / Castlevania: **_Naruto is Dracula reborn. Simple idea_

**AU: **_**Konoha was never founded, there are no ninja villages just clans and the world is in a perpetual state of war. Naruto is born into a world where it is family that is most important not village affiliation. (I leave Naruto's clan up to the author, but there are some points that are a must. THEY MAY NOT HAVE AN OVERPOWERED BLOODLINE I hate it when a story is ruined by a godlike bloodline… they should act like real ninja, less explosions and more sneaking up on enemies with razor wire and daggers)**_

**AU: **_**Naruto's parents were actually fox-demons, and the Kyuubi attack was a really powerful Genjutsu used by Kushina's overprotective brother and his followers… (the idea is that fox demons have three unique powers: they can normally turn into foxes, they have fox like traits in their 'humanoid' form (ears, tails, teeth…etc.) they have the ability to create fox-fire which is a heatless flame, and they can use really convincing Genjutsu like the Kurama clan (at the author's discretion the Kurama may actually be fox demons) these illusions are called Yojutsu instead of Majutsu)**_

**In both the first and fourth idea, if the Youndaime survived the Kyuubi attack he faked his death and took his wife and son away from the village temporarily to hide his secret abilities from the people (or in the case of the last one, the entire thing could have been a prank)**

**These are some basic ideas, or perhaps challenges for my readers. I hope someone does write a story for some of these ideas, especially the last two.**


	20. Recovery

**True Jinchuriki**

**Chapter 19**

**Recovery**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Naruto there would be more razor wire and fewer explosions. (What kind of ninjas throw around flashy explosives and then talk about how their attacks work? Secrecy is the entire point of ninjas)**

**I started working on this exactly 12 hours after the previous chapter was updated. (It was updated around 10 pm)**

**It took a while didn't it… yeah; well at least we are at a point where I have a solid bit of plot.**

**I asked in my last chapter whether I should pair Naruto with Hinata or Yugito. I am still waiting for an answer, but to clarify I would like to explain that this is mostly irrelevant to the story except for a couple of scenes. Please remember that the other girl will be paired with Lee. (Cause Lee kicks ass!)**

**I have made a poll on my profile for this, I would like some opinions 'cause I can't decide which pairing I like better. So I am leaving it up to my fans. The pairing will have no effect on the actual plot anyways. It will just open a new set of jokes and interactions between the characters.**

Word of Gaara's defection and the Kazekage's supposed death spread through the battlefield within minutes. Everyone knew that something was going to happen.

But no one expected what happened next.

There was a rumbling sound as a small tidal wave of sand slid down the main street of Konoha, bearing on top of it the red haired demon container.

The moment they saw him many sand ninja froze in shock at the calm look on his face and more importantly the very prominent sake bottle in his hands. After this moment of shock however they quickly dashed into one specific location, a small training ground not far from the main residential are.

A decision was reached within moments, withdraw.

Suddenly all of the ninja in Konoha saw a series of smoke signals in the distance and a moment later all sand village ninja vanished back into the forest. All of a sudden the sound ninja found themselves singled out and without backup.

Meanwhile the arena stands had turned into a mass grave for all of the attacking ninja who had failed to flee within the first few minutes.

The swords of the samurai (and Tenten) had ripped through enemies like a katana through raw meat.

A large blue dragon had wound its way around a certain section and killed any enemies who tried to get past it.

Within the dragon's protected region a collection of various people sat around chatting merrily, unaffected by the carnage around them. Most of the leaf ninja had run off to fight the invaders and protect their homes and families. Shortly after the dragon's teeth had run off after them.

And in the top box of the arena, the elderly Hokage was currently seen beating his former student with a large staff. After that large black dragon had appeared over the two contestants and forcefully removed the fallen warriors' souls, it had left back to wherever dragon summons live. This left Orochimaru down a huge chunk of charka without harming Sarutobi at all.

Shortly Orochimaru's fatigue had begun to catch up to him and his sword got slower and lead to his current predicament. He was losing, not too badly but he was losing. The conniving portions of the snake charmer's mind worked hard to figure a way out of this pickle… and all of a sudden they found it.

Just barely dodging his former master's attack he dived for the unconscious chilled on the ground. His blade would surely have skewered the poor child but for a body that interposed itself directly between them.

The elderly village leader barely winced as the poisoned blade tore through his lung and used this opportunity to launch a counter attack of his own.

As Orochimaru fell back from his injured opponent withdrawing his sword and smirking in victory he noticed the look on the man's face, he barely had time to figure out what was happening before the exploding tags on his right arm and shoulder activated.

He could barely shriek as half of his torso was torn to shreds by the explosion throwing him backwards into the purple barrier.

(AN: I really wanted to end here)

The falling man's decent was halted however by his minions who dropped the barrier deciding that this battle was over for the time being.

-XXX-

Three days had passed since the invasion and the people of Konoha were finally done cleaning the blood off of the walls… mostly.

The genin teams of the village were calling this the three days of horror due to the sheer number of D rank missions they were assigned to repair various shops, trim damaged hedges and wash the roads and floors to get rid of all the gore.

Meanwhile in the council chambers a small number of ninja had been gathered for a ceremony.

"As the acting leaders of **Konohagakure No Sato** (village hidden in the leaves/ village of the Hidden leaf/ village of leaf concealment) hereby promote you to the rank of Chunin, rise Nara Shikamaru Chunin you have done your clan and village proud." The two elder Advisers stood before the village council and a small number of newly appointed ninja. The two elders continued to the next person in line, "For eliminating three enemy spies before the battle and concealing the village's preparations from the enemy we promote you to the position of ANBU Captain, please rise and take your place ANBU captain OTTER. And finally for defeating and recruiting one of the enemy's strongest warriors and single-handedly demoralizing a large portion of our attackers as well as your impressive performance in the Chunin exams we promote you to the rank of Chunin with the subcategory of special Jounin in the field of frontline combat and demolition rise and take your place, Namikaze Naruto, Tokubetsu Jounin."

The last three ninja in the assembly rose from their kneeling position and stood beside their comrades. The elders bowed to them in respect and the ninja returned an even deeper bow.

Some time later Naruto could be seen speaking with the two elders as they sat outside the Hokage's hospital room. "I am a little surprised you actually promoted me after all that happened." He commented lightly.

"You are a ninja of this village, for the time being at least. And while I personally don't like or trust you, I respect your abilities Namikaze-kun. You have skill and talent, but you are irritating and a constant reminder that the village's security is not as good as it could be." The male elder commented dryly.

His female teammate added her own two cents, "you have little respect for your elders and you constantly deface village monuments, but most skilled ninja have their individual quirks… I only hope you will grow out of some of yours eventually."

The boy smirked, "in other words you just think of me as an annoying brat who is too powerful for his own good. Still I really expected more hostility considering the level of missions I keep getting assigned."

"Someone has to do them."

"And many of the other council members feel you are too dangerous to trust."

"You don't?"

"You are strong, strong people are always too dangerous to trust. And you are effective. If you die then we would simply mark you down as another ninja who died in the line of duty, at this point we have gotten used to it."

"Your support is heart warming." He replied sarcastically, and then smiled well at least they saw him for himself and not for a demon… they could be filed as irrelevant rather than as enemies.

Just then the door opened and the elderly man exited slowly leaning on a cane heavily. He strode carefully towards his visitors and sat in a comfortable chair that had been prepared there for his use.

"I called you here for a simple reason. I can no longer complete my duties as Hokage, my injuries in that last fight will heal but there is a limit to how many scars an old man like me can deal with and I have reached my limit. I have called Jiraiya-san here as well to assign him a mission. It is time to contact Tsunade."

The elders exchanged glances, "she is not likely to accept the position Sarutobi-san."

"There is little choice, Jiraiya has already declined and the next strongest person would be Might Gai or Hatake Kakashi both of which are too badly needed on the front lines in case a war starts." The elder leader sighed, "If Tsunade cannot be convinced, Jiraiya will accept for the sake of the village."

Naruto glanced around curiously, "so why am I here?"

"You will be accompanying Jiraiya-san to find Tsunade-Hime." The elders had already figured that out. "She may not listen to Jiraiya-san, but she may be persuaded by you, furthermore Orochimaru survived that battle and he will be sending agents to interfere with this mission. It's better to send two ninja than one for additional security."

The boy nodded and stood up, "I will pack my supplies and assign orders to my associates. They will take over a percentage of Konoha's missions until things have settled down." with this he departed.

The three retired ninja glanced after him then turned toward Jiraiya who stood in the shadows only a few meters away. "He has a lot of talent for a child so young… but his mind is scarred, it's hard to say how he will progress. Be careful Jiraiya-san, that child needs human interaction now more than ever."

The man nodded and vanished again leaving the three oldest members of Konoha's ruling body to plan their next course of actions.

-XXX-

Naruto glanced around the clearing; around him were Gaara, Yugito, Haku and Zabuza. "We will take a portion of Konoha's missions for the next couple weeks. Try to take a lot of missions and don't fail anything, we want to prove that we are capable. I'll be back in a few days with the new Hokage, at this time we will begin operation 'road of life'." He declared clearly, and turned to leave. "Oh and one more thing, can someone check to make sure I didn't leave the oven on? Thanks, see you all in a little while!" just like that he was gone.

Haku turned and headed for the shelter.

"Hey, where are you going?" Yugito called after him.

"To check oven"

Gaara observed the exchange and shrugged, he had more important things to do.

He began to walk down the path, "I will return soon, there is something that I need to do." He didn't bother waiting for a response and simply vanished.

-XXX-

In the morning of the next day

"I can't believe you completed the first step of the rasengan in one day. That's inhuman!"

"Its not that hard, I already have two moves that use a similar theory, it was just harder to make multiple rotations at the same time. So what's the next step?"

The older man sighed and drew out a rubber ball. "The next step is power," he said handing his companion the ball.

The boy looked at the rubber ball before holding it out and making it explode with little visible effort. A tiny bit of concentration was the only visible sign that he was responsible for the explosion.

Jiraiya stared, this kid completed the second step on his first try… in a way it was understandable, but still that was just ridiculous.

"Ok, the third step is to take a regular balloon… and**not**pop it! This step is all about containment."

The look on his godson's face was priceless, if there was one thing he was bad at it was containment.

-XXX-

That afternoon there was a knock on the door.

Naruto looked up from where he was lying on the floor; it was too early for the old pervert to be back. He could just not answer the door and wait for them to go away… but what if it was room service?

No, he had to open the door. If there was even a slight chance of it being food, then he owed it to himself to open that door.

So with a disgruntled grunt he rose to his feet and strode over to the door even as another knock sounded. He sniffed the air, sushi! But wait, that was an odd smell, not quite fish, not quite person… not quite blood…. Wait blood?

He didn't know who it was, or why they were here but that wouldn't stop him from messing around.

-XXX-

Itachi was standing outside the door of his quarry, he had already knocked twice and was starting do wonder if the boy had gone elsewhere. Suddenly the door opened and an angry blond stuck his head out into the hall, yelled "I told you already that I don't want any of your freaky sushi!" and shut the door in his face.

He stared at the door with an unreadable expression. That was unexpected.

So he knocked again, and this time the door was opened and the same blond stuck his head out, only this time there was a frying pan in his hand. "I said I don't want your freaky sushi, you crazy fishmongers!" with that he slammed the door shut on Itachi's interposing foot.

The previously mentioned foot, survived the strike but the pain nearly made him yelp. Forcing the door open again he spoke, "we are not selling sushi; we are here for a slightly different reason. You will come with us."

The boy looked up at him blankly then declared, "No thanks." And forcibly shoved him back out of the room and shut the door in his face.

Glancing over to the quivering mass that had recently been his teammate he declared, "It's not that funny Kisame, get up we have work to do."

The shark ninja rose to his feet chuckling quietly and strode over towards the door, he was just about to kick down the door when it flew open and a blond head poked out. With surprising agility the young ninja dodged the kick and scowled at his attacker, "what did I say about freaky sushi you creep?"

The shark ninja swung his sword only for the boy to fall on his back to get out of the way then hop back onto his feet, drawing a sword as he did.

The short blade slashed a gash through the giant's cloak but did little else. Kisame struck again but like last time he hit only air.

The more agile of the two combatants dashed in close and struck deep with his blade. The shark ninja managed to tumble back away from him and avoid injury but as soon as he was far enough away… the door slammed shut.

The akatsuku agents exchanged looks, this was more difficult than they expected. Sure he had recently been promoted but only to chunin; so far he was putting up as good a fight as some jonin. This train of thought was interrupted however by a cry of, "ITCHI!" from the end of the hall. Both glanced to the angry, panting boy who was staring at Itachi with what he thought was an intimidating glare.

He charged lightning into his hand and charged… rather slowly as far as the S class ninja were concerned. Catching his wrist as he passed Itachi tossed his brother into a wall, and then followed this up with a punch in the gut and a quick use of **Tsukiyomi**. He was just about to return to breaking down the door when a large toad appeared a few meters away, on its back was the Gallant Jiraiya, lover of women, hero of men, writer of popular adult novels and strongest of the legendary three.

The three men froze in place, each ready to move but waiting for someone else to make the first move. In a battle of such high level warriors, one mistake could and probably would be fatal. Then the door opened, a frying pan flew out and struck Kisame across the jaw.

Staring at his downed partner Itachi sighed and bent over to pick him up, "well it seems that we are done here for now… we will meet again, Naruto san." And then he was gone, dragging Kisame and the Sameheda with him.

Jiraiya didn't try to stop him; he was too busy yelling at the owner of the foot that rammed into his face.

-XXX-

The next morning found Jiraiya and Naruto walking towards a famous gambling town. The elder of the two was explaining the information he had about akatsuku, and the younger was holding a balloon. The balloon would periodically bulge in odd ways but then return to its perfectly round shape.

The first town turned out to be of no help so they headed off to the next after that. After that came a town that was famous for it's castle… this turned out to be strange considering the whole west side of the castle had collapsed (recently judging by the crowd and yellow tape)

Jiraiya's eyes lit up with an odd kind of light, Tsunade was close. He turned towards the seediest part of town, "let's go, we have a drunken surgeon to find."

The rest of the day was spent searching for their quarry… unfortunately they failed to find her. Naruto ended up getting distracted when he realized how easy it was to win at cards and by the time Jiraiya had dragged him out of the casino he was also dragging a sack filled with enough money to buy a new house in one payment!

It was several hours later when the duo headed to a nearby bar to get some food and drink. The bouncer at the door was about to stop Naruto from entering only to receive the most convincing argument he had ever received from a child… a glare and a knife stuck in the wall next to his head.

The pair had just walked in when Jiraiya cried out, "Tsunade!" and rushed off to a seat next to a pair of women. The one with blond hair glared at him and asked a very important question. "What the hell are you doing here, you damn Perv."

A long discussion followed but Naruto blocked it out in favor of his food. He ordered a little bit of every kind of food the restaurant had and then sat beside his godfather and took pleasure in the jealous looks he was getting from the less wealthy patrons.

He noted that Tsunade was obviously suspicious but left that to Jiraiya to deal with. He did however tune in when the subject of Konoha was eventually reached.

"I don't know if you have heard about the village yet." Jiraiya was much more serious now than before.

"Orochimaru attacked from what I heard… I don't particularly care."

"He fought with sensei…"

"I heard about that, something about the old coot being dead." She tried but failed to keep the emotion out of her voice.

Jiraiya smirked, "it takes more than a sword through the lung to kill the god f all ninja. He should recover mostly in a couple months, but he isn't as fast as he was before… Tsunade-hime, it's time for the old guy to retire."

"He sent you here?" Tsunade asked in a surprised voice.

"Yeah, he said I should try to convince you to come back. If you don't go then the council will demand I take the position and I really don't feel like settling down just yet."

Tsunade snorted, "I'm not going back; I lost way too much already."

"Who hasn't," Naruto asked off handedly, then amended, "well, I haven't but that's because I never had anything to lose to begin with."

"Hey, what's with the brat Jiraiya, are you starting a daycare or something?" she declared with a smirk.

The middle aged peeping tom looked up from his sake, "Konoha's most infamous chunin, he just got his vest a couple days ago. Tsunade-hime, meet my godson, Namikaze Naruto the man who never looses a bet… the meal is on him."

She glanced at her teammate, then down to the sack of cash at the boy's feet and nodded, that sounded reasonable. "So kid, you haven't said anything yet, I was expecting you to be spouting village propaganda by now."

"I have no lasting loyalty to Konoha, it's just a temporary alliance." He barely looked up, "I have no intention of staying in a village of bigoted fools when I could be using my power to make my own place in the world." He looked up at her, "I also understand your view in this, being a ninja leader is the most thankless, brutal, and irritating job you could ever get. You are expected to administer every aspect of the village, fight to protect its people only to order them to their death the next day. There is honor and glory to spare but it doesn't make up for the stress… I don't think I could handle it."

By now his companions were staring at him with blank expressions, "so… Jiraiya, this is your godson? The one with the… thing, right…"

"Yeah, Minato's son, the Jinchuriki, sensei raised him in the village but never could help him get friends his own age… he talks like sensei, don't you think?"

"Yeah, he does" she never finished her meal, just got up and left.

-XXX-

Meanwhile, at the village

"I am sorry Gai-sama, but with the level of skill we currently have… it's likely that he can never be a ninja again. His body recovered quickly from the injuries but the damage was much too extensive, there is nothing we can do.

-XXX-

Somewhere in river country, on a boat

Haku felt more than saw the attack, he dodged just in time to dodge a battle shuriken. Unlike the small shuriken used for distractions and some jutsu this shuriken was roughly the size of his head. One of those things can kill a man in one hit… it's like being hit by an axe.

He sighed; he just had to take the prisoner escort mission.

-XXX-

Zabuza slipped through the shadows around the targets house, he could see the man writing something in a large ledger. After the man had stood up and walked a few steps from the desk he sprung forward and sliced him cleanly in half. It was all too easy; he kind of wished he had taken the prisoner escort mission.

-XXX-

Konoha, Hyuuga head's residence

Hiashi instructed his nephew in improving his technique… the boy's wounds were mostly superficial and the medics had been able to heal most already, he was still wrapped in bandages but as long as he took it easy the doctors said that he could begin training. It would be a waste to not train someone with such talent!

-XXX-

Tsunade had a lot on her mind, she walked into a small stand to get some sake to drink and relieve the stress she was feeling. She had only just ordered when the flap opened behind her and a small figure approached the counter, he had to hop slightly to get onto the bar stool but it didn't seem to bother him. He ordered a bottle of sake. The barkeeper tried to argue but the boy would not be deterred. "It is in your best interests to not argue on this matter."

The attitude spoke for itself, and the bartender handed him the sake, grumbling all the while. She never bothered looking over, it seemed as though there were a lot of ninja brats in the area. However he spoke to her.

"You are Tsunade-sensei, the great doctor?"

(AN: Sensei can mean teacher, doctor, or lawyer)

"What of it, brat," She had yet to take a drink but she noted out of the corner of her eye that he took a sip of his alcohol.

"I require your assistance…I made a mistake, and I cannot fix it with ought your help."

"Not interested, kid I don't do that stuff anymore."

"Will you listen to my story?" somehow she doubted that she could refuse.

"I was once a normal child, but I was betrayed. Ninja were sent after me repeatedly for many years until it became clear that I was too strong to kill. However my rage consumed me and I lost what little self control I had. In my rage … I hurt someone greatly. He sought only to prove the validity of his beliefs, and I crippled him for it. He may never fight again, that is why I need your help. If you examine him, perhaps you will find a way to save him, something that others have not noticed." She could feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of her head but refused to look over. "You need not promise me anything, I just ask that you look at him. If you cannot find a way… then no one can. That is what I have heard."

"Yeah, well I don't do that stuff anymore. I'm retired; I have killed more patients than enemies, kid. I can't help you."

"You can, you simply refuse to do so."

"Alright, then let me rephrase. I won't help you, I won't examine anymore doctors, I won't save anymore patients and I won't kill any more!" she roared as she turned towards him. Suddenly she froze; everything about him spoke of ill health. Pale skin, dark rings around the eyes and even the dullness of his gaze. And yet he sat straight, his red hair spiked in all directions and the symbol on his forehead stood out sharply against his skin. The massive gourd on his back didn't seem to bother him and even as she watched he took his sake bottle and downed the last of it. As he took another, she grabbed it from his hand. "You are too young to be drinking, you already look half dead."

He chuckled; yes chuckled… his face remained mostly emotionless but the corners of his mouth rose slightly. "I have an idea, how about a contest. If I win, you will examine Lee-san; if you win I will cease to bother you."

She paused, her great love of gambling tempered only by ingrained caution. "What kind of contest?"

To her shock his hand shot out and grabbed the sake from her hand and he downed the entire thing in a single gulp, "a drinking contest."

-XXX-

The next morning found Jiraiya staring blankly at the groaning form of his teammate. She had arrived moments ago, in a staggering walk and stated simply that she was headed to Konoha. It seamed that she had gotten a bit too drunk last night and now she couldn't even walk straight due to her hang over.

Several hours later the story was finally drawn forward. It seemed that the infamous gambler had lost a drinking contest to some boy with red hair and a gourd on his back, apparently he drank her under the table only to buy another bottle and walk off with a smirk.

Naruto hadn't stopped laughing for hours. Somehow he managed to explain in a wheezy voice that Gara could drink as much alcohol as he wanted with ought getting drunk, since the one tailed raccoon absorbed all of the alcohol from his bloodstream.

Tsunade looked murderous until someone commented that she was dumb enough to fall for that despite seeing him down two bottles of sake and not get even a little tipsy. Afterwards she avoided the topic completely. It was at the end of that day that Naruto finally got the **Rasengan **to work. To say she was shocked was an understatement. To think that a child got the technique within a week was ridiculous. But evidence pointed to it, so she had to except it.

"You haven't tried to make me take the hat at all… weren't you sent for that reason?" curiosity finally got the better of her.

"I did say I understand you, didn't I? I was sent to bring you back, not make you take the job, if you want the job you will take it." Naruto grinned up at her. "Plus I would rather have you on my side, that way if I need some good medical advice, I know one of the best."

She couldn't help it, he may be a psycho but he was adorable. And surprisingly mature for a kid. Though from what she heard, it was to be expected. Ether way, she had a patient to examine, and she may at least see the old fool while she was there.

-XXX-

"Hey kid, catch"

As he walked away Naruto reached up and caught the necklace. Looking it over, he tossed the blond woman a curious look.

She just shrugged, "I don't have any kids, and I probably never will. So you are technically the closest relative of the Senju… your great, great grandfather I think, something like that anyway, was a member of the clan so it's yours. It's said to carry the power to tame the Biju. We'll meet again." She walked towards the hospital, whistling a tune.

Jiraiya smirked at his godson's look, "well it's true, all the Hokages have some Senju blood, it's like a tradition. Of maybe its cause they have so much natural talent, but you are technically a Senju, so am I for that matter, and the Sarutobi Family. The clan was pretty big before the village was founded. I suppose you have people to see, so I'll head to the tower and make sure the council hasn't done something stupid."

Naruto nodded dumbly, there were many things that he could have been thinking but the main one was, "Tame the Biju?"

-XXX-

In it's cage the Kyuubi suddenly found the trees to be growing larger. In fact it was as though the forest was expanding and beginning to eat the temple complexes. From an analytic perspective, the temples probably represented the Boy's isolation and the forest was probably a representation of his mental and emotional strength. The lake of blue water had long ago turned into an ocean and it seamed to flow all around as it fueled his technique.

Glancing around the great fox almost sighed, soon those trees would eat up what was left of its perch and then they would surely begin to over grow him as well. Still eternity could not end so easily, he would endure and in time he would ravage the lands again

-XXX-

**I am finally finished this chapter.**

**The retrieval arch starts soon, and then the exodus. Sorry it takes so long, I just can't seem to focus on one thing lately, too many ideas… and I am not even writing a tenth of the ideas I have.**

**A preview of the future…**

"_Welcome to the Dragon's Teeth, you have all been hand picked by our illustrious leader due to your skills, and personalities. Just be warned, our mission is a dangerous one and we will have many foes soon, you will have to grow strong, and grow quickly." The man's voice echoed through the dark chamber._

**I'll try to be faster in the future but I am not very good at that lately.**


End file.
